Stupid Voice
by Artemis Nox
Summary: "Unite with your true love," he said. "Live happily ever after," he said. So then why is it that we're all being handcuffed and carted off to ninja jail? That stupid voice.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Ha. Haha. Hahahaha. Hah... Yeah, no I'm totally not just now posting this story that was supposed to go up six years ago before I vanished from the face of the Earth. It's most definitely still 2012, right? *ahem***_

* * *

"Are you serious? If anyone is gay, it's Gaara. I mean, he has the character for 'love' tattooed on his forehead!"

"Deidara _looks like a girl_. A man can _not_ be as pretty as Ino, and _not_ be gay!"

"You, shut up! Deidara is older, so Ino looks like _him_!"

"Well, I guess it only makes sense that _you_ would like such a girly-looking guy—"

"No, Ino just looks like a man! So he's a manly-looking man!"

"—since you're practically half-man anyway, _Matthias_."

"Don't bring my name into this! It's not my fault my parents were expecting a boy and got too lazy to pick a new name."

"And sometimes you act like a man too." And with that, a pillow found its way to Chyna's head. "Ow! Mattie, I'll kill you!"

"Just try it. You've already made me miss half the episode with your stupid arguments."

Chyna shrugged. "We'll just watch it again. We have plenty of time." Mattie nodded. "Not like it matters, you've seen this episode twenty times already."

Mattie chose not to reply.

The two girls had been sitting on their respective bean-bags for the past three hours, watching every single episode of Naruto over again. With Mattie's laptop hooked up to the television, not only were they able to view Naruto upon flat-screen goodness, but they had every episode up to that point available for them to watch—thanks to the internet. Chyna and Mattie—even though they were consciously trying to cut down—were absolutely obsessed with Naruto. Mattie owned every volume of the manga available, and Chyna had at least three Gaara plushies. It only made sense that when they had the occasional sleep-over that they would pass time with a Naruto marathon. But, unfortunately, Naruto marathons usually meant petty quarrels over whose crush-character was better.

Mattie tossed some popcorn into her mouth. "Even if Deidara _were_ gay—which he's not—he's still infinitely times sexier than Gaara."

"What!?" Chyna nearly screeched. "Deidara is nowhere _near_ as hot as Gaara is."

Mattie rolled her eyes as she replied, "He's not called 'The Sexy Beast of the Akatsuki' for nothing."

Chyna nearly gagged. "You're the only one who calls him that!"

Mattie shot up from her bean-bag. "Am not!"

Chyna stood up as well. "Are too!"

"Well, at least I don't like a psychopath."

"Yes, you do!"

"Panda-face!"

"Pandas are cute."

"They're fat!"

"It makes them cuter!"

Mattie's voice dropped dangerously low. "No. Pupils."

Chyna gasped, but when she opened her mouth to respond, the door slammed open. Both girls momentarily ceased their insult-flinging and turned to face the intruder. Standing in the doorway was Chyna's older sister, Reyna, with her iconic "puppy-dog pout" plastered to her face. Immediately, the bickering girls forgot about their fight. "What's wrong?" Chyna asked. Reyna just stood there. "Did something happen?" her sister continued. Reyna nodded slowly, her pout never wavering. "What is it?" Chyna asked once more.

Reyna opened her mouth and whined, "I just broke up with my boyfriend."

Chyna's "sister switch" flipped on. "Aw, Reyna. It's okay. You can always find a new one. And besides, he was a jerk anyway." She glanced at Mattie.

Catching her hint, Mattie nodded and added quickly, "Yeah, and he wasn't too good-looking either."

Chyna continued, "And we all know he didn't deserve you."

Mattie crossed her arms and shook her head. "He wasn't man enough."

"And, he had a big head."

"Both literally, and figuratively." They both nodded knowingly.

Reyna sniffled. "Thanks guys."

Chyna shrugged. "No problem."

Reyna looked around the room. "So what are you doing?"

"Watching Naruto," Mattie answered as she and Chyna re-seated themselves in their bean-bags.

A look of confusion made its way onto Reyna's visage. "What's Naruto?" she asked.

Chyna and Mattie stared at her in horror. "Only like, one of the most epic anime ever," Mattie said.

Chyna nodded. "Yeah, it's really cool. There's like, action, hot guys, and stuff…."

"Can I watch?" Reyna asked. The girls told her there was no reason they would refuse, so Reyna grabbed a bean-bag and plopped right down next to them. They had hardly watched half an episode before Reyna burst out, "Who's _that_?" Chyna and Mattie looked in the direction Reyna's finger was pointing, only to find a certain masked, white-haired shinobi quite easily taking down his enemies.

"Kakashi," they answered simultaneously.

Reyna smiled. "He's really cool."

Chyna shrugged as Mattie said, "He's just Kakashi."

Reyna looked at her Naruto-watching companions. "So you guys don't like him?"

Chyna commented, "There's just people I like better."

Mattie shook her head. "Nah."

"So when you said, 'hot guys' you weren't talking about him?"

"Well," Mattie began. "He was included, but it wasn't necessarily directed at him specifically."

Reyna snuggled deeper into her bean-bag. "I don't think that there could be anyone better than Kakashi."

Immediately, Chyna and Mattie rushed to show Reyna _their_ crushes, telling her of all the things that were awesome about them. Reyna only scoffed. "These guys don't even measure up to Kakashi."

Chyna scoffed right back. "Puh-lease. Gaara is the friggin' Kazekage. What do you think about that?"

Mattie blew a raspberry. "You wish. Kakashi went after Deidara with Naruto and _still_ couldn't beat him."

Reyna rolled her eyes. "Deidara looks like a girl."

"He does not! He's a very sexy man!" Mattie growled.

"Sexy if you like girls," Chyna mumbled.

Mattie glared at her, "I thought we were being a team right now!"

"It's not my fault it's true," Chyna said.

"If it is true then I guess I won't have to worry about Gaara making a move on Deidara, since Gaara is so _obviously_ into guys."

"Yeah," Reyna piped up. "He's got it really bad for Naruto."

"You can't talk," Mattie turned on Reyna. "If that mask wasn't in the way, nothing could stop Kakashi from suckin—"

"Mattie!" Reyna gasped.

"Like Deidara isn't dying to screw Sasori," Chyna stated.

"You're just mad that Deidara owned Gaara's sandy butt!"

"Yeah well, Gaara crushed Deidara's arm," Chyna pointed out.

"And even after having done so, he still lost to Deidara." Chyna suddenly wanted to slap the ever-growing smirk off of Mattie's face.

"You're both being stupid," Reyna interrupted. "Kakashi is obviously the best." Reyna's face met two pillows.

Eventually the squabbling died out and the girls passed out around midnight—exhausted after constantly defending the honor of their characters of choice.

* * *

" _Don't even try it, un!"_

" _Look, it needs to be done! You've got split ends."_

" _So why do you have to take so much off?"_

" _Because you don't take care of it, I'm teaching you a lesson."_

" _There's no way I'm gonna—"_

" _Deidara. Just stop." Mattie held up the scissors. "It's for your own good."_

" _It would be for_ your _own good if you just gave up, un." The scissors inched closer to his hair. "I'm warning you!" Closer and closer. "That's it!" Mattie realized too late. "KA—!"_

 _Suddenly, the scene froze. Mattie heaved a sigh of relief when she noticed that she was not going to be blown to smithereens. Even though she knew vaguely that she was just dreaming, the situation was still pretty scary. She looked around briefly, and seeing nothing else wrong, she just shrugged her shoulders. She then decided to take the opportunity to give Deidara his haircut—she had nothing better to do. She had just raised the scissors again when she heard a voice speak. "_ _ **Matthias**_ _." Mattie looked around the room once more. A sudden feeling of anxiety washed over her._

" _Uh, yeah?" she answered._

" _ **Do you wish to be united with your true love**_ _?"_

" _Oh, that's all you wanted?" Mattie allowed herself to laugh shortly. "Sure. Why the heck not? I don't have anything to do."_

" _ **Your wish shall be granted**_ _." And then everything faded to black._

* * *

The next thing Mattie heard was someone's excessively loud snoring. As she sat up, she felt something distinctly wet slide down her face. She lifted a hand to her cheek and carefully wiped the saliva away. _I must have been sleeping_ pretty _well if I drooled_ that _much_ , she thought as she opened her eyes. "I don't remember Chyna's room being so green…." Mattie surveyed the area, and eventually a realization came to her sleep-ridden mind: she was no longer in Chyna's room. "Oh my—" Fully awake now, Mattie scanned her surroundings once more. She caught sight of a snoring Chyna and rushed over to her. "Chyna. Chyna!" she hissed as she shook the sleeping girl.

Chyna slowly opened her eyes. "No more junk food before bed."

Mattie stared at her. "What?"

"Well," Chyna began, "I was having this really good dream, but all of a sudden it froze and this random voice asked me if I wanted to be 'united with my true love.'" Chyna scratched her head. "I blame the junk food."

Mattie's eyes widened. "Are you serious? The same thing happened to me too! And we're like, not in your room."

"What?!" Chyna looked around and screamed. "How'd we get out here? And why is my arm wet?"

It took Mattie a moment to register her last sentence. "Oh. Sorry. I forgot to wipe my hand on my pants."

Chyna chose to ignore Mattie's comment as she stood up. Mattie followed suit. "There aren't even any buildings in sight. How did we….?" Her voice trailed.

"Don't ask me. I have no idea either."

"What do we do?"

"I don't know!"

"Why are we—?"

"Stop asking me questions I don't know the answer to!"

Chyna was quiet for a while. "Okay…. Then how about this one: wasn't Reyna in the room with us when we passed out?"

"Uh, yeah…."

"So where is she now?"

Mattie was silent. "I don't know," she said at last.

"Should we go look for her?" Chyna suggested.

Mattie shrugged. "Sure, why not?" The two walked around, searching the area for Reyna. The older girl was nowhere to be found. "Maybe she didn't come with us," Mattie suggested after a while.

"It's possible—" Chyna was interrupted when the two heard a series of odd noises. As the sound was coming from above, they looked up.

 _Thud!_

"I think we found her," Mattie said.

Chyna groaned, "You didn't have to fall on us, Reyna."

"I think I broke something," Reyna mumbled.

Mattie replied, "Yeah, my spine." It took a few moments for the three to get on their feet again, but when they did, the girls tried to figure out where they were—to no avail.

"So we're stuck in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the clothes on our backs?" Reyna asked incredulously.

"Oh, no wait," Chyna said as she reached into her bra and pulled something out. "We have my cell phone. I always sleep with it."

"Why didn't you whip that out before?" Mattie exclaimed. "Call nine-one-one!"

Chyna immediately dialed the numbers on her phone and pressed the "call" button. And then she groaned.

"What? What is it?" Reyna asked.

"No service," was her answer. The group shared a collective sigh of frustration.

"So," Mattie started. "Bottom line is, we're stuck here?"

"I guess so," Chyna murmured.

"Well, if we have to live in the forest, I'm in charge," Reyna declared. She then began listing the things they would need to survive, the jobs they would need to do, and so on and so forth. The younger two listened to her rather well for the most part, but after awhile their minds were elsewhere. Chyna was reliving her dream in her mind and Mattie entertained herself by looking around. Then, all of a sudden, something she did not want to see caught her eye. Just the sight of it began to affect her—her throat seized up and body began to shake. She slowly backed away from Reyna, and her movement grabbed Chyna's attention.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked. Mattie could not speak a word past the lump in her throat, so she just pointed to Reyna's shoulder. Chyna looked to where she was indicating, and her eyes widened immediately. "Wow, that's a big spider."

"What?" Reyna looked down. Hardly a second passed before she screamed. "Get it off of me!" she shouted as she ran in circles. "Get it off of me!" She flailed around helplessly before she gathered the courage to swat it off of her… and right onto Mattie.

" _Mother fucker_!" Mattie instantly wanted to die. "Get the fuck away from me! You whore, I can't believe you—" Mattie jumped around—all the while emitting a flurry of curses, desperate to fling the arachnid off. "Bitch, _get it away_!" Mattie squeezed her eyes shut and flicked at the thing. When she peeked down at her shirt, she was comforted to see the spider gone.

And then Chyna screamed. "How the heck did you get it on me!" Chyna screamed and ran in circles, zigzags, and criss-crosses until…

 _Whack!_ She crashed into a tree.

* * *

 _ **A/N: If you made it this far, thanks for reading! This story is co-authored by**_ **it's Raezilla** _ **, who is also here on FF. We started writing when we were 16, so there may be a noticeable difference in style once we reach the later chapters. Hope you enjoy anyway!**_


	2. Chapter 2

Team Gai was happy to see the gates of the Leaf Village—even though they were so far in the distance—after they had been away from home for so long. The mission they had been on was not a difficult one, but it had taken much longer than expected and every member was glad when it was over. "I can't wait to take a nice, long bath," Tenten murmured, more to herself than to the others.

"Yes," Gai agreed. "A bath would be very rejuvenating—right after the usual 100-lap run around the village! Don't you think so Lee?"

Lee beamed at his teacher. "Yes, Sensei! It would be most invigorating!" The green jumpsuit clad duo then began rambling on about how refreshing exercise could be and how even more refreshing a hard-earned, well-deserved bath afterwards was.

Neji shot a look at Tenten. "Now you've got them started."

"It's not like I meant to—" She stopped abruptly as the group heard a scream erupt through the air.

"Sensei," the younger taijutsu master began.

"Yes, Lee. It sounds as if a fair damsel in distress is in dire need of our assistance! Let us move onward towards her!" Gai and Lee sped off in the direction of the shriek with Tenten and Neji following close behind, albeit a bit reluctantly.

The scene they arrived upon was not quite what they were expecting. Team Gai watched as three girls ran around screaming, terrified of a mere spider. After the spider was swiped from one girl, to another, and then the other, Neji had had enough of their incessant screaming. When the girl who currently had the spider clinging to her for dear life had crashed into a tree, he calmly walked over to her. "No thank you," she murmured. "I don't want any cheesecake."

He plucked the spider from her shirt. After carefully tossing it into the woods, he turned back to the unknown girls. "It's gone," he said simply.

* * *

Mattie stared in shock as a man with long, beautiful brown hair approached Chyna, grabbed the spider, and flung it far away. She knew that man, and she knew him well. Very well. As in, she has seen every single episode with him in it _at least_ three times, and read every chapter at least five. _Either that's a really good cosplay_ , she thought to herself, _or I've died and gone to Naruto heaven._ When he spoke, she went weak in the knees. _And I thought his voice was sexy coming from the computer_. She clung to Reyna to keep from falling. When she was able to stand up straight again, she nearly groaned as a realization hit her. _I just had a complete spazz attack in front of Neji_. She looked down. _In my pajamas no less_.

Chyna finally regained her senses and stood up slowly. She held her aching head in her hand as she grumbled, "Thanks for the help, guys."

Gai looked around at the three—now perfectly not in distress—damsels. "What are three youthful ladies such as yourselves doing all the way out here? Are you headed for Konoha?"

Mattie nearly fainted again. _There's no way this is happening!_ She could not believe any of it. One moment she is having an extremely disturbing dream about cutting Deidara's hair, and the next, she wakes up in… Naruto world? It was ridiculous! Absurd! But how else could she describe it? She herself had only one other possible solution. _I'm being Punk'd, aren't I?_

Chyna slowly looked up at the people around her. "Whoa," she breathed. "Did I hit my head too hard, or is that Neji?"

There was a moment of silence. Then Tenten spoke up, "Wait a minute…. How did you know his name?"

Another moment of silence. Reyna shook her head slowly while Mattie brought her hand up and smacked her forehead.

"So," Neji continued for his teammate. "Just how _do_ you know me?"

Mattie was the one to speak up. "Well, uh, about that…. Run." And the three girls split.

Chyna ran as fast as her legs could carry her. She had only one continuous thought running through her mind, _Ohshitohshitohshitohshit!_ Minutes pass by, and all is well, until she stopped. Chyna took a deep breath. "Phew! That was a hefty run!" She wiped nonexistent sweat from her brow. Then, all she saw was green. Chyna looked up to see Gai glaring down at her. _Oh shit._

"You call that a run?" he asked, incredulous. "How un-youthful! That was not even half a run! How can a young lady such as yourself be without the blazing fire of—" At that point, Chyna was no longer listening. She slowly tried to inch away from Gai as quietly as she could. Her getaway would have been successful, if Gai had not seen her tip-toeing away to begin with. He grabbed her and swiftly tossed her over his shoulder.

"Put me down, you green rapist!" Chyna screamed as she punched Gai's back as hard as she could. Needless to say, it did not do much. "You teenage-girl molester! Let me go! You do realize that touching younger girls is against the law, right? You, you—purity defiler!" Gai paid her no mind.

Reyna was making good progress on her part, until one particular thought passed through _her_ mind. _Are these my expensive slippers?_ She stopped immediately to check. A voice called out from behind her, "I have got you now!" Lee grabbed hold of her.

"Pervert!" Reyna shouted.

Lee gasped. "I am no such thing!"

"Yes, you are," she insisted.

"No, I am not! That is the most un-youthful thing anyone has accused me of—"

"It doesn't matter, _Pervert_ , you are a _pervert_ , now let go of me, _Pervert_!"

"I cannot!" Lee replied. "You are a suspicious character that must be apprehended for the sake of Konoha! And I am not a pervert!" Reyna struggled, but it was no use. Konoha's Handsome Devil held onto her tightly as he dragged her back and he went to meet with the others.

Mattie sprinted as hard as her body would allow her. Running from ninja was pretty much pointless, but she had to try. _Keep going,_ she thought to herself, _keepgoingkeepgoingkeepgoing. You've almost lost them._ She allowed herself a brief glance backwards. _No you haven't!_ Surprisingly, she managed to speed up a bit, but it was no use. Bunny slippers were not the ideal running footwear as they had little to no traction—among other things. Mattie slipped on some moss and nearly twisted her ankle. "Holy—!" She went crashing to the ground. Desperate, she resorted to crawling. She had barely gone a few centimeters when she saw familiar looking feet—yes, she is that Naruto obsessed that she learned to recognize the characters by their feet—blocking her path. She looked up, even though she already knows who it is. _Neji_ , she groaned to herself. She turns around only to find Tenten blocking her path there. _Fuck._ She decided it best to not resist.

* * *

Reyna and Chyna sent their most evil glares in the direction of Mattie. The three of them had their hands tied behind their backs and were forced to march behind Gai and Lee—with Tenten and Neji trailing behind the captives to be sure they did not try to slip away—but only Reyna and Chyna had been gagged. Mattie tried her best not to look at them, because she knew she would feel a bit guilty if she did. Lee noticed their malevolent gazes but he mistakenly believed they were directed at him. "Wish all the ill onto me as you please," he said to them. "It was my duty to capture you dubious individuals, and I will accept your hatred with pride!"

"You know," Tenten began, "if you guys hadn't started running, we could have just talked it out instead. Dashing away like that only made you look guilty." For the first time, the trio shared a collective thought, _We're such idiots._ After a while, Team Gai removed the gags from Chyna and Reyna after the sisters promised that they would stop screaming "rapist" and "pervert" respectively. The trip to Konoha passed by uneventfully and in silence. The gate into Konoha was looming not too far ahead when a familiar face met with them.

"Ah, Jiraiya-sama," Gai greeted him. "Are you returning with more information for the Hokage?"

"Something like that," the Toad Sage muttered underneath his breath. "And what do you have here?" he asked, referring to the three prisoners.

Lee was the one to answer. "Suspicious characters apprehended just outside of Konoha!" he announced.

"Oh, suspicious characters, eh?" Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "Maybe it would be best if I… searched them. To see if they have any hidden weapons."

Reyna and Chyna shouted simultaneously, "Don't come near me, you pervert!"

Mattie nodded towards the oldest of the group. "She's the leader. Her first."

Reyna glared at her and hissed, "Traitor."

Chyna added, "Yeah, she's in charge; get her." When Reyna shot her a look, she just shrugged. "Just as long as it's not me."

Tenten piped up. "I don't think they're hiding anything. The cloth they're wearing is too flimsy to conceal weapons."

"Are you sure about that?" Jiraiya asked.

Gai was the one that answered. "No search is necessary." Jiraiya shrugged and tagged along with the group to go see the Hokage.

Once they were in the Hokage's office, the shinobi began to discuss what to do with the trio. "I'm not sure what we _can_ do with them," Tsunade said. "I doubt that they're ninja. With the details from your report and looking at their… odd attire, I wouldn't guess that they had any shinobi-like capabilities."

"But there is the fact that they may hold information on the Hyuga clan, at the very least," Neji reminded her.

"Yes, there is no denying that possibility. Maybe Ibiki will be able t—"

Every member of the captured group felt a part of her die on the inside. "No! Not Ibiki!" Reyna screamed. "Anyone but him!"

"Oh, so you know Ibiki?" Tsunade asked. She frowned. _They're clearly not ninja and yet they know of Ibiki. This is getting to be too much. I need a drink._

Chyna spoke up next. "Now, wait a minute, Tsunade-sama. You don't want to do that. Bring in Ibiki, I mean."

Tsunade's frown deepened. "And why no—wait. So you know my name too?"

Chyna froze. "Well, uh, Hokage-sama, you see…. It's her fault." She nodded towards Mattie.

"My fault!?" Mattie screeched. "You were the one that went and said Neji's name out loud!"

"You were the one that told us to run!"

"You didn't have to listen!"

"What else would I have done?!"

"Stay and talk it out like Tenten said!"

"No one knew we could do that!"

"Then don't blame me for telling you to run! I didn't know either!"

Tsunade slammed her hand down on the desk. "Enough," she said loudly. Chyna and Mattie instantly shut up. "I need to know who you are and what you're doing here. _Now_."

Reyna was the first to speak up. "Well, my name is…." She trailed off. _Crap, my real name won't fit in here. It'll be even more suspicious!_ She quickly came up with an alternative. "Misaki. My name is Misaki. And she is…." She looked at Chyna.

Chyna caught on and said, "Miyu."

Mattie simply stated. "I'm Reiko."

"And what were you doing on the outskirts of Konoha?" Tsunade asked.

 _Damn, forgot about that part,_ Reyna—now Misaki—thought to herself.

Chyna—now Miyu—spoke up. "Well, we don't really know. We woke up there."

Tsunade resisted the urge to grunt in disbelief. "And how do you know about Neji and the others?"

Miyu searched through her mind for an excuse. She could not find one. _Well, what good is lying anyway?_ "We're…" she began slowly. "We're not from here."

At that, Tsunade scoffed. "Well, I know _that_."

"No, I mean," Miyu began again. She sighed. _There's no way they'll believe us…._ "We're not from this world."

* * *

 _ **A/N: Thanks for reading!**_ **it's Rae-zilla** _ **and I have settled on a weekly upload schedule (for the time being), so you can look forward to Chapter 3 to coming around the same time next week.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: So, somewhere in here is a large chunk of awkwardly placed text (blocked off by the large divider lines) whose sole purpose is to describe clothes, because that's what 16 year old girls deem to be of utmost importance. Don't let it turn you off, it only happens once, feel free to ignore it. Okay? Okay.**_

* * *

After plenty of interruptions, a lot of enthusiastic hand motions, and a few "I did _not_!"s—with some eye-rolls and "You did _too_!"s as responses—the girls finally told Tsunade their tale. They told her of their world, how Naruto was just a made-up story in it, and how they magically woke up in the Naruto realm the day after having a weird dream. When all was said and done, Tsunade stared at the trio. "So you _really_ expect me to believe you're from a completely different world?" The girls nodded their heads vigorously. "Well, I don't believe you."

"What?" Misaki whined.

"B-but…. Why not?" Reiko asked. "We know all this stuff!"

"You could be spies," the Hokage replied simply.

"We couldn't be spies if we know all the embarrassing stuff too!" Miyu protested. Then she thought for a moment. "Wait, could we?" Tsunade's eyebrow visibly twitched.

"No, hold on," Reiko began. "Would a spy know your blood-type?"

Tsunade sighed. "Maybe not, but I highly doubt that you kn—"

Reiko gestured to each person in turn as she listed them off. "Neji—O, Tenten—B, Lee—A, Gai—B, Jiraiya—B, and you, Tsunade-sama, are type B as well."

"Okay," Tsunade gritted out, clearly frustrated with the three now-on-trial captives. "There is a small possibility that you might _not_ be spies. Even though I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, I can't fully risk the chance of you being spies. You will have to be watched all hours of the day."

The girls were silent, ready to finally give in, until a realization came to Miyu's mind. "Just a second. I have something that'll prove that we're from a different world and not just spies!" Instantly, Miyu's hand ventured into her bra.

Lee, with the accusations of being called a pervert still fresh on his mind, turned away without hesitation. Gai called out, "I must preserve your youth, Neji!" as he covered said man's eyes.

Jiraiya's eyes nearly bulged out of his skull as he murmured, "I like where this is going." Just as Tsunade threw a scroll at Jiraiya's face, Miyu brought forth her cell phone.

"Why did it take you so long to get it out of there?" Reiko asked.

"Shut up!" Miyu yelled. "It was hard to grab onto!"

Misaki stared at her sibling, thinking, _Why must I have an idiot for a sister?_ Reiko could only shake her head, musing to herself, _You're so blonde it's sad since you're actually blonde._ Gai deemed it safe for his pupils' sight again, so he dropped his hands from Neji's face and let Lee know he could turn back around.

Miyu showed the phone to Tsunade. "See? In our world, we use it to communicate with other people who have one. We can send written messages, or we can talk to them like I'm talking to yo—" Then the sudden ringing of a catchy tune startled them all.

 _Sweet little bumble bee_

 _I know what you want from me_

 _Dup-i-dup-i-do la da_

 _Dup-i-dup-i-do la da_

"Oh, look," Reiko said. "You have a signal."

Miyu peered at the Caller ID: **ARIEL**."Oh no," Miyu whispered. Misaki and Reiko quickly crowded her, trying to catch a glimpse of what the phone said. And when they did….

"Don't answer it!" Reiko immediately exclaimed.

"You know how he is," Misaki added.

"He'll spazz!" Both Misaki and Reiko gave Miyu the most pleading looks they could muster. Miyu looked undecided.

"But, when will we get another chance to contact someone from our world? Probably never!" The others remained silent as Miyu answered the call and put it on speaker.

 _Sweet little bumble bee_

 _More than just a fantasy_

 _Dup-i-dup-i-do la da_

 _Dup-i-dup-i-d_ —

"Hello?" Miyu asked the phone tentatively.

" _ **MAMA BEAR! WHERE ARE YOU?!**_ " the phone howled. Everyone in the room cringed.

"I still don't get why you're 'Mama Bear'," Misaki grumbled.

" **Papa Bear, you're there too?** "

"I'm not Papa Bear!" Misaki shouted.

" **Yes, you are!** " the phone screeched.

"No I'm—" Before the fight could go anywhere, Reiko quickly took the call off of speakerphone-mode and pushed the phone to Miyu's ear.

" _You_ wanted to talk to him, so _you_ talk to him," she told her friend.

Miyu frowned. " **First of all, do you know how much trouble you guys are in?! Our parents and Mattie's parents are ready to kill! If they find you guys, you won't be let out of the house until you're forty-seven!** "

"But, Ariel," Miyu began.

" **Don't say anything! You've got me all worked up so just let me ramble. And do you even have any** _ **idea**_ **how** _ **worried**_ **I've been! You all just up and disappeared!** "

"Ariel…." Miyu tried again.

" **And you didn't leave a note or anything! I didn't know if you ran away, if you were kidnapped, or if you just decided to kill yourselves!** "

"Ariel." Miyu was frustrated now.

" **And since you didn't bring any clothes with you, I was forced to think it was one of the latter two! Thank goodness you answered the phone. I would've thought you were dead. Or that someone stole you—no one stole you, right? You better come back home. You can come home, right? Why aren't you answering? Can't you come back? Are you STOLEN?! AND WHERE'S MATTIE?! I haven't heard her! DID SHE KILL HERSELF?! I always knew that girl was as gloomy as—** "

"Ariel! _Shut up!_ " Miyu roared.

" **Oh** _ **now**_ **you want to talk!** "

"Listen. We can't really come back home right now. We're stuck."

" **What do you mean, 'We're stuck'?** "

Misaki snatched the cellular device from Miyu. "We're gonna see sexy ninja!" she squealed into the microphone.

Reiko scoffed as she snatched the phone from Misaki, "Forget that." She held it to her ear as she squeaked, "I might get to see the Sexy Beast of the Akatsuki!"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow and shot a look at Reiko while Miyu snatched her cell phone back. "Stop snatching it!" She held the receiver to her own ear as she began again. "We're kinda… stuck in the Naruto world."

" **Liar.** " Ariel replied immediately.

"I'm not lying!" Miyu proclaimed.

" **I don't believe you.** "

Miyu actually growled. But before she began swearing at him like she was a sailor, her eyes rested on Tsunade. _The Tsunade_. She held out the phone to the Hokage. "Could you talk to him please?"

"Why?"

"He won't believe me when I tell him where we are—"

"It is a bit hard to believe."

"But it's important that he does! Please? Just say 'hello'?"

Tsunade sighed and accepted the proffered contraption. She held it up to her head the way she had seen the trio do so and said, "Hello?"

A loud shriek could be heard from the other end. " **Tsunade-sama?** "

"Yes….?"

" **OMIGAWD! I absolutely LOVE you, girl! I mean like,** _ **really, REALLY**_ **love you. Will you marry me?** "

Feeling rather thoroughly disturbed, Tsunade handed the phone back without answering. "Do you believe me now?" Miyu asked.

There was a moment of silence. " **I guess I have no choice. I mean, you're not here, but you wouldn't just run away. It's not like you guys.** "

"So, can you cover for us? Until we find a way to get back?"

" **Can I speak to my love, Tsunade, again?** "

Miyu looked at Tsunade. The woman had her eyes closed and she was massaging her temples as she muttered to herself, "just forget what he said" over and over again. "Uh, she's not your biggest fan right now so, no."

Miyu could almost hear Ariel pout over the phone. " **Fine…. I'll cover for you guys.** "

"Thank you _so_ much!" And then she hung up. There was an awkward silence for a moment or two. "So," Miyu looked at Tsunade. "Do you believe us?"

Tsunade sighed. "Yes, I believe you."

"Yes!" The three girls raised their arms in preparation for a three-way high-five.

"But I'll still have to put you under surveillance."

"Awww…." Three arms lowered.

"It's for your own good," the Fifth stated. "If certain parties were to found out just _exactly_ who you are and how much you know, they would come after you and they could possibly harm you. Since you were brought to me first, I'm personally you putting in the care of a team of Konoha shinobi."

"Is an entire team really necessary?" Reiko asked.

"If there were just two of you, it would still be difficult for just one ninja to look after you. So a team of three—one for each of you—is required, as well as a team captain that will be able to report back to me periodically with ease."

Reiko's lips formed a perfectly round 'o'.

"And we can't tell _anyone_ who we are and where we're from?"

"Exactly. No one must know—save for the people who are present here. Not even the team I pick to monitor you will be aware of who you truly are."

Reiko peeked at Neji from the corner of her eye. "You know," she began. Miyu looked at her when she began to speak. She followed her friend's path of sight and deciphered her gaze's object instantly. "Team Ga—"

Miyu's hand flew to cover Reiko's mouth, preventing her from finishing her sentence. "Don't even think about it," she hissed into the fangirl's ear. Turning back to Tsunade, Miyu smiled sweetly and said, "Just ignore her."

Tsunade gladly did just that. She began looking through her files, searching for team candidates. There were a few moments of silence before a thought passed through Miyu's mind and she spoke up. "So, um, Tsunade-sama?" Tsunade looked up at her. "Before we go meet up with the team you assign to us, could we get a change of clothes? The material is thin, so it especially doesn't feel right if we find ourselves being ogled by perverts like him." She pointed to Jiraiya. The other two glared at him while they nodded their heads matter-of-factly.

Tsunade looked over them, taking in Misaki's _Vampire Diaries_ shirt and kitty cat shorts; Miyu's _Tweety Bird_ set; and Reiko's vivid _Scooby-Doo_ pajamas. The dizzying patterns disorientated her, and she instantly wished to burn the weird garments. "Of course," she answered.

* * *

"Looking good!" Misaki wolf whistled at herself and the others.

They all took turns flaunting their new outfits, twirling and curtsying and being downright silly. Miyu spun in a circle, sending her layered, lavender skirt flowing. Fishnet adorned her waving hands as fingerless gloves, and traveled down her spinning legs to her pale blue and white shin guards. Her shirt of the same blue color did not hinder her wide arm movements as she insisted on showing the other two the wrappings on them up close. At one point Reiko had to tell her that she was being force to smell the matching blue wristbands so hard that she could almost taste them.

Miyu and Misaki tap-danced in their matching, strappy sandals, and Misaki nearly gave Reiko a bruise after she whacked the unsuspecting girl with her pink forearm protectors on accident. Misaki also almost undressed herself when the bow to her strapless grey shirt got caught on a plant in the hallway. Pink bracelets jingled on her arms and she had wrappings that travelled all the way up to the short sleeves of the fishnet top that covered her torso. Although her sister had opted to put all of her blonde hair in a ponytail, Misaki was content with only half of it being put up. She did, however, agree that the two-toned shin guards looked mighty nifty and she chose a pair in pink and white. The sisters also had matching pendants with the only difference being the color of the stone hanging from them—Miyu's was sky blue while Misaki's was a steely grey.

Reiko had only tried a few times to get her black hair into a ponytail before she quit and left half of it down. Her midnight blue shirt was complemented well by the fishnet that could be seen on her chest as well was the white scarf she had wrapped around her neck. Simple white bracelets were the only ornaments on her arms, so those limbs were bare up to the elbow where the sleeves of her shirt began. Her layered black skirt had a single stripe of blue running across the bottom, and the grey tank top she wore over her low-cut shirt was tied in place with a black bow. The wrapping on her thighs could just barely be seen until the sisters swung her around with them at top speed. Her standard sandals were made different-than-standard by the small heel on the bottom, and the upper part that ran up her shins. The latter difference was covered by white leg-warmers that—like they should—stayed in place when she kicked up high with her friends as they danced.

* * *

After a few moments of being goofy outside of the Hokage's office, the team that was called together to take on the mission of supervising the girls stepped out from debriefing. The girls immediately straightened up and tried their best to look professional. The attempt drastically failed when they got a look at just who was part of the team.

There was twitching, quite a bit of twitching. _Damn it, so bright…._ , was the thought running through Miyu's mind. Reiko was thinking something along the lines of, _Fuck, I couldn't stand her in the anime._ But Misaki's thoughts consisted of one word. _Piiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnkkkkkkk._ Sakura had just barely stated her name when Misaki burst out, "Ohmigawsh, I love your hair!" Sakura smiled. "What dye—"

Sakura cut her off. "It's not dyed." The malice in her voice made the girls wonder how she could stay smiling so easily.

"So, if it's not dyed, did you get into a fight with neon bubblegum—and lose?" Miyu asked. Naruto let a small snigger escape him and as a result, received the full wrath of Sakura's glare. Sai merely thought to himself, _Hmmm…. Bubblegum._

In order to divert some of the awkwardness that was settling, Naruto gave his introduction next. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" he shouted enthusiastically. Misaki pulled on her ear slightly to get it to stop ringing.

"That's… loud." She shook her head.

Sai smiled what he probably believed to be a genuine smile. "I'm Sai."

Misaki and Miyu could not help staring at him, the word "weird" coming to mind. And then when Yamato introduced himself, pretty much the same thing happened. The girls introduced themselves, and before an awkward silence even had the chance to think about joining them, Misaki spoke up.

"Okay, look guys. I'm tired. You hear me? Tired! I've been stuck in one place for the majority of the day, and these introductions have sapped up most of the energy I had stored up! So I demand to be taken to the apartment we're supposed to be staying in! _Now!_ " Naruto openly moved away from the rather frustrated looking Misaki, thinking to himself, _Scary…_.

Within a few uneventful moments, everyone had arrived at the apartment that had been provided for the girls. Misaki collapsed onto the meager couch, but for Miyu and Reiko, the exploration immediately began. They skipped through the small apartment. It did not take long as there was only one bedroom, a bathroom, a small kitchen, and a living/dining space. "Wow," Reiko murmured. "Our own place."

Miyu shrugged. "It's _okay_." The girls walked a few steps to the living room and noticed the team of shinobi standing in the entryway.

"So, um," Reiko began. "Do you guys have to watch us _all_ the time?"

"From the moment you step outside this place until the moment you turn in for the night," Yamato replied. "And even then at least one of us has to remain on guard duty until an Anbu member arrives to take the night-shift."

"Well then," Reiko mumbled. "That's kind of creepy." The awkward silence found them. Miyu sat down next to her sister and whipped out her cell phone—from her pocket this time—and began messing around with it. The shine of the lustrous cover immediately caught Naruto's eye and he made a bee-line towards it.

"What're you doing?" he asked curiously.

Miyu—realizing all too late she should not have had her cell phone out—quickly tried to hide it behind her back. "Nothing," she answered not-so-innocently.

"Wait, what's that you're hiding?"

"Nothing," she said again.

A small struggle over the object of interest ensued. Needless to say, Naruto won. "Wow!" he exclaimed happily. "What's this?"

Miyu quickly snatched it from him. "None of your business!" She turned to the couch to stuff it in-between the cushions, and Naruto decided to just shrug it off. When she looked up, her heart nearly leapt out of her chest in fear.

Miyu held her hand to her chest in a feeble attempt to stop her heart from beating so quickly. "Don't do that!" she screamed at Yamato's particularly creepy-looking face.

"So what is it really?" Yamato asked, his eyes poring into the very depths of her soul.

"Just, uh, something I tinker with occasionally," she laughed nervously.

Reiko took that opportunity to cough not-so inconspicuously into her fist, "Dumbass."

Miyu turned on her. "What did you say?!"

"Nothing," Reiko said not-so innocently.

"If you want some of this, then come get some!"

At that, Reiko scoffed. "Please, you couldn't hurt a fly."

"I'll hurt _you_! And I'll hurt you good!"

"Come over here and try it!"

Misaki stared at the two. _I'm surrounded by idiots_ , and before Miyu could _actually_ go over there and try it, Misaki sprung to her feet. "Well, would you look at the time!" She grabbed the younger two girls and dragged them into the bedroom. "We gotta go to bed! Night!" She slammed the door shut.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Thanks for reading this far! The next chapter will be up soon :))) Also, totally not trying to clickbait you, but after each update, I kinda tease the next chapter in my profile soooo :D**_


	4. Chapter 4

The girls relaxed in their shared room, each of them sitting on one of the three beds that were crowded into the space. No one disturbed the comfortable silence until they had already been in their room for a number of minutes. "You know what I just realized," Misaki grumbled. The other two merely looked at her. She received no response, so she just continued on. "We owe Ariel. Big time."

A series of groans erupted around the room. "Who knows what he'll make us do to repay him," Miyu murmured.

"Knowing him, he'll probably want us to bring Tsunade back when we find a way home," Reiko said.

"Or," Misaki began. "We'll have to do his laundry for a year." The trio shuddered.

"I'd rather try to kidnap Tsunade," Reiko stated.

Miyu shook her head. "I don't want to think about it! Let's talk about something else."

"Well," Reiko started. "Think about it. We're in 'the Naruto World.' What else could we talk about? Just being here pretty much trumps any news any of us might've had."

There was a moment of eerie silence, like the calm before a storm. _EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!_ Reiko's squeal echoed throughout the _entire_ Leaf Village. "We're in the Naruto world!" She stood up, her excitement obviously dancing in her brown eyes. "Can you believe it?!" Here she jumped up and down a few times. "The _frickin'_ Naruto World! With _two_ exclamation points! I mean like, _really_!?" She squealed again. "There's ninja, and epic battles, and _hot guys_! What more could a girl ask for?!" She collapsed back onto her bed, facing the ceiling, with her chest heaving and trying to catch her breath. "There's Neji, and Neji, and _Neji_ , and nearly _half_ the Akatsuki. And the Akatsuki has Deid— _ho_ mi _gawd_ Deidara." Reiko shot up like a rocket, holding a hand to her failing heart.

The sisters stared at her. "Um, are you okay?" Miyu asked with an eyebrow raised.

Reiko managed to stifle her next squeal, but a smile still split her face in two. "Deidara," she giggled. She flopped back down onto her bed. "If I see him, I'll just die."

Miyu blew a raspberry. "No duh. If you see him, he'll kill you."

Reiko sat up once more, suddenly serious. "Hmm. Yeah, you're right." She looked up at the ceiling. "I guess I should try to not like him now…. I mean, since we're kind of on Konoha's side for whatever goes on while we're here, he's the enemy—the bad guy."

Miyu gave her a look. "Um, he's always been the bad guy."

Reiko turned to face the younger sister. "Says who?"

"Says the fact that he's in the Akatsuki."

Reiko shrugged. "So? He didn't want to join. And even though they pretty much forced him to, he does his job anyway—proving that he's reliable. How's that bad?"

"You're kidding, right?" Miyu stared at the other girl in mild shock.

"Well, excuse me for being able to look at things from another point of view."

"He kills people. Just because he can. Does that sound good to you?"

"Ninja kill every day! Death is part of the job description. And besides, what do you think Gaara did for most of his life? And you think he's any better?"

"Don't compare that freak to Gaara! They're nothing alike!"

Reiko stood up. "Yeah, they're nothing alike at all, since Deidara actually has _eyebrows_!" And with that, she stormed out of the room.

 _Pffffft!_ Misaki almost instantly burst into laughter. "Eyebrows!"

* * *

Reiko slept alone on the couch that night, but by the next morning all ill-will was forgotten and the best friends were best friends once more. And the two were forced to go through harsh endurance training together—training otherwise known as shopping. Immediately after breakfast, Misaki made the announcement. "I want to go around the village and buy stuff today."

"Do you even have any money?" Reiko asked.

"Okay, I want to point out the things I wish I could buy."

"Well, good luck with that," Miyu muttered.

"Have fun," Reiko added.

"You two are coming with me!"

"But, _why_?" they whined at the same time.

"'Cause I said so!" Misaki then proceeded to drag the two girls out of the apartment.

"Holy—!" Reiko half-exclaimed as she nearly collided with Miyu when she walked out the door. She peeked around her friend in order to see what was holding her up. At the head of their little line, Misaki stood frozen, staring up warily at a very newly arrived Yamato.

"You got here…fast," she murmured.

"What?" Reiko whispered.

"He definitely wasn't here a second ago," Miyu whispered back.

"Were you planning on going somewhere?" Yamato asked.

Reiko rolled her eyes and thought sarcastically to herself, _No we just came outside to stand around on the landing_. But she did not say anything aloud because—as the case is with most of the Naruto "characters"—she had a mini-crush on Yamato and did not wish to get on his bad side.

"Yeah," Misaki answered. The slight frown came across Yamato's face but Misaki continued, regardless. "We were going shopping!"

"Well, as much as I would…like to escort you, you can't move about with only a single escort."

"Oh, I know a way to fix this," Reiko spoke up. Everyone turned to her, "You, Yamato-taicho, can go with Misaki and shop allllll you like while Miyu and I stay here… most likely sleeping…."

"No!" Misaki yelled. "I object!" She peeked at Yamato and shuddered before she turned back to Reiko and narrowed her eyes at said younger teen. "You're coming with me." The matter was dropped.

"Well," Yamato sighed, "I guess that once _two_ escorts are available, you could go….Tsunade-sama didn't say a one to one and a half, escort to escorted, ratio was bad."

"What?" Miyu asked, confused.

Yamato tried again. "If there's one escort for every one and a half escorted person, it should be fine to go."

"Huh?" Miyu gaped at him.

Yamato decided to give it another go."With two escorts, you could leave."

"Really?" Misaki looked hopeful.

Yamato nodded. "Naruto should be here shortly…."

Misaki's eyes began to sparkle brighter than a rainbow with all of the sparkle-iest sprinkles on top. "Then we'll have to wait for him!"

Reiko leaned toward Miyu and whispered, "I hope that the Ramen fairy finds Naruto and whisks him away to a magical ramen-land where he'll want to stay forever."

Miyu shrugged and whispered back, "Come on, don't be like that. Shopping with her isn't all that bad."

It _was_ that bad. Once Naruto arrived, Misaki bolted and the others had to quickly follow after her. Yamato lead them to the shopping district, and Misaki went ballistic. She ran this way and that, going from shop to shop to shop to shop to shop….

"She's not even buying anything," Reiko wheezed as she tried to keep up with the older girl.

"I think that's why she has so much energy," Miyu panted. "She has no bags to slow her down."

"Oh my gosh, guys," Misaki called back to them. "Look at how cute this dress is! We should go inside so that I can touch it!"

Reiko stared at her. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah!" Misaki nodded enthusiastically. "I can't buy, so I can't wear it, so I want to touch it!"

"Uh," Naruto scratched his head. "I don't know much about shopping but, you could probably just… try it on…."

Misaki's eyes widened. "You're right! I can't believe I forgot that! Now I can model for hours!"

Reiko spun on her heel to face Naruto, hands raised to choke the life out of him. Luckily, Miyu managed to grab her first. "He didn't mean it!" Miyu cried as Reiko struggled to escape from her grasp. "He was just being the sweetheart he is!"

"I'll kill him!" Reiko grunted as she clawed for his face. "It's all his fault! I can't take it anymore!" Naruto just inched away as slowly and inconspicuously as he could.

"Ugh!" Reiko threw up her hands in frustration. After about three and a half hours or so of following Misaki around, Miyu, Reiko, and even Naruto were tired. "I'm done with this," Reiko said. "I'm just done." She collapsed then, back against the wall of the building they had been passing, frowning ferociously as she slid to the ground. But, almost as if she had a "someone's-being-lazy-and-not-following-me-while-I-prance-around-to-different-stores" radar, Misaki immediately appeared next to the now resting girl.

"Mattie!"

"Reiko," she corrected.

"I don't give a damn what your name is! Get off your lazy butt and let's go!"

"Noooo! I don't wannaaaaa! I'm tiiiiired!"

"I don't care! I'll drag you if I have to!" With that said, Misaki grabbed Reiko's arm and pulled with all her might. Reiko gathered up her little remaining strength and pulled right back. And so a struggle ensued.

"God, dammit, let go! You're pulling my arm out of the socket!"

"Just get your ass up, and I'll let go!"

"You whore, if you break my arm, I'll kill you!"

"Kill me after I'm done shopping!"

"Well, actually…." Both girls turned to look at who had spoken. "I have a meeting that I have to attend shortly," Yamato was explaining. "So, I'm afraid you'll have to cut your shopping trip short."

"What?" Misaki dropped Reiko's arm. "Nooooooooooo!"

Yamato had the decency to look apologetic.

Reiko did not. "Yes!" She jumped up and skipped circles around Misaki. "No more shopping," she sang. "No more shopping!" Misaki did not hesitate to push her to the ground.

"I'm sorry," Yamato said. He turned to Naruto. "Will you be seeing Sakura later?"

"Yeah!" the young blond piped up. "We were going to meet around the corner from the hospital before…" he looked at the girls, "we were given this mission."

Yamato nodded. "I'll go with you to your meeting place before I head off. When Sakura arrives, then you can start moving again." And so they went. Yamato abandoned Naruto and no sooner than he left, an awkward silence settled among them.

"So, uh," Naruto began. "You guys are advisors to the Hokage?"

"Uh, yeah…." Reiko answered, racking her brain for whatever cover story Tsunade had come up with for them.

"Hmmm…." Naruto murmured.

"Is something wrong?" Misaki asked.

"Well," Naruto started, rubbing the back of his head. "You don't seem like you're advisors. You're just a bit… too weird."

"Well then," Miyu said.

"I didn't mean it in a bad way," Naruto said quickly. "It's just…. You not like any other advisors I've ever seen. So… where are you guys from?"

"Huh?" All three girls looked at him.

"I figured you guys aren't from around here, so… where _are_ you from?"

"Ohhhhhh…." Reiko said, dragging out the word in order to buy some time to think.

Fortunately, Misaki was a quick thinker. "We're from the land of Happy Rainbows!" …Maybe not so fortunately.

Miyu gaped at her sister in shock while Reiko quietly, but fiercely hissed to her, "Don't go making stuff up!"

Naruto was nodding his head knowingly. "Land of Happy Rainbows, eh? That makes a lot of sense."

Misaki beamed at him and Miyu struggled to hold back her laughter. Reiko just stared, wondering whether to facepalm or correct him.

She decided to do both.

"Don't listen to her," she said as her hand met her forehead. "We aren't from the Land of Happy Rainbows. We're from the Moon Country."

"Oh," Naruto said.

"So," Miyu spoke up. "Why are you meeting with Sakura?"

"Oh that. We were supposed to go see Kakashi-sensei today, but…."

Misaki's head snapped up at the mention of Kakashi's name.

"Oh, well, when Sakura gets here," Reiko said, "you guys can just drop us off at the apartment so you can still see him."

"Yeah," Miyu added. "We don't want to keep you from him or anything…."

"Well, um," Misaki said. Everyone turned to look at her. "I was thinking that it would _probably_ take too long to take us all the way back to the apartment—"

"No it wouldn't," Miyu interrupted.

Misaki glared at her. "I think it would!" Misaki turned to Naruto. "It would just be easier to take us to the hospital with you. We'll stay out of your way."

Naruto thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, it might be easier that way after all. So we'll just have to wait for Sakura-chan to show up then, huh?"

Misaki nodded happily. Reiko was giving her a dirty look and Miyu was frowning at her, but she did not care. _Kakashi, here I come!_

* * *

 ** _A/N: Thanks for reading! *and cue self-promo* If you ever stop by my profile, I have mini teasers for each upcoming chapter!_**


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: The content of this chapter very specifically follows the events of an actual Naruto episode (it's been so long now I can't remember which) and it's main purpose is to establish to the reader when in the Naruto time line the girls make their appearance. So if it seems familiar, it's because it is lol**_

* * *

"Naruto!" The group of four looked up to see who had spoken. Sakura stood, waving at them. And Sai was not too far behind her.

"Huh?" Naruto looked at him. "What? Sai's with you too?"

The pair began to move closer. "I bumped into him at the library," Sakura said. She looked at the girls. "You have the three of them with you."

"Oh, yeah. They wanted to go shopping, so Yamato-taicho and I took them."

Reiko rolled her eyes. " _Misaki_ wanted to go shopping."

"But then he had to go, so we just sat here and talked while we waited for you to show up. They were just telling me that they're from the Moon Country."

"Really?" Sakura turned to them. "We've been there once before, but I couldn't imagine living there!"

"Especially with _your_ king," Naruto said. "But I guess that's why you are the way you are. Having a spoiled lead—"

"Naruto!" Sakura glared at him. "You really are an idiot!"

"What'd I say?"

"N-Naruto, S-Sakura…." Sakura and Naruto turned to look at Sai, who had spoken. "Could you guys include me in the conversation too?"

Reiko nearly squeaked. _So cuuuute!_

"Oh!" he continued when Naruto and Sakura exchanged looks. "Well, I read in a book about how to open up to other people right away…. And in the book it said to call people by their first names only and to use nicknames and terms of endearment…. It said if I did that, there would be a sense of friendliness and we'd be able to get along right away." At that point he blushed and smiled, causing Reiko to quickly turn around in order to hide her fangasm from the others.

"Oh, so you're concerned with stuff like that, huh?" Naruto asked.

"So that's what you were doing in the library…." Sakura said.

At that point, Reiko calmed down enough to face the others again.

"Yeah." Sai nodded. "And…I was thinking about nicknames and terms of endearment for you guys…. But I can't really come up with anything good…. So I'll just call you guys by your first names for now…."

"You don't need to think about stuff like that," Naruto said. "It just happens naturally!"

"For nicknames or terms of endearment," Sakura added, "you should just say that person's character trait. For example, if you're talking about Naruto…." Naruto looked at her. "Idiot Naruto! Or moron Naruto! Or something."

"Sakura-chan, you're taking things too far with that." After that, Sai went into a state of deep thought.

A few moments passed, and he began to look Sakura up and down.

Misaki shuddered. "Is he," she began, "checking her out?"

"Shh!" Reiko smacked the older girl's arm. "The best part is coming!"

"You don't have to stare at me like that…." Sakura said.

Sai smiled at her. "Thank you. I've got the hang of it now… Ugly."

There was a moment of stillness—the calm before the storm—before Sakura erupted. Naruto struggled to hold her back. "Sai," he called. "You're really taking things too far with that!"

Reiko turned away to politely hide her laughter while Misaki and Miyu just laughed outright.

"That's a good one!" Misaki managed to choke out.

Sakura managed to hit both Naruto and Sai before she turned to the three girls, glaring at them, eyebrow twitching. They immediately straightened up.

"That was not nice, Sai!" Reiko mock-scolded him as if he were a puppy. "Not nice at all!"

"Sai," Sakura said sweetly. "Why don't you think of some nicknames for our new friends here?"

"Huh?" Sai looked over the girls. "Well…." He first turned to Miyu. "I think I'll call you… Dumbass."

"What?!"

Misaki and Reiko had to hold her down. "Who does that bastard think he is?!" she raged.

"Miyu, calm down," Reiko said. "He doesn't mean anything by it."

Sai focused his gaze on her. "Right… Weirdo."

Reiko let go of the still fuming Miyu. "I'm going to my emo corner now…." And she went to sulk in a corner.

"Ugh!" Misaki yelled. "You bitches better straighten up _right now_! You are keeping me—I mean, these poor people from Kakashi!"

Sai nodded at Misaki. "Cruella."

"What did you just say?"

No one is quite sure what happened after that….

* * *

The group finally made their way to the hospital. Naruto, Sai, and Sakura went into the room to see Kakashi while Misaki, Miyu, and Reiko waited just outside of the door. "So…." Reiko mumbled.

"Nice weather?" Miyu shrugged.

"I guess so," Reiko replied. "What do you think, Misaki?"

Misaki sighed.

"Hey!" Miyu snapped her fingers in front of Misaki's eyes. "We're talking about the weather!"

Misaki sighed.

Reiko stared into her glazed over eyes and shrugged.

"We lost her," the younger girls said simultaneously.

"I'm bored," Miyu whined.

"What should we do?" Reiko asked.

"Go see Kakashi," Misaki suddenly said.

"No," Reiko said simply. Misaki lunged for the door, but luckily Miyu managed to grab her and hold her back.

"You guys _suck_! Reiko got to see _her_ anime crushes…."

Miyu glared at Reiko. "That's because she has a crush on _everyone_. If she wasn't such an anime whore, she'd be just as deprived as you are."

Reiko merely shrugged. "Being an anime whore is a lot harder than you think, y'know?"

"I still hate you both," Misaki spat.

There was silence for a number of minutes. Then Misaki started sighing again.

"Dammit! If I hear another sigh from you, I'll fucking kill you!"

Misaki sighed again.

"Bitch!" Miyu tackled Misaki, and the two immediately began to struggle with one another. Reiko would have settled with just rolling her eyes and letting them be, but a glimmer of bright purple caught her eyes.

"Crap…." she murmured. She turned to her wrestling friends. "Guys!" she hissed. "Stop being idiots and get the fuck off the floor!" They paid her no mind. "Miyu! Misaki! Guys! Come on, stop it! Get uuuuuuuup! Come on, you're embarrassing me!" When they continued to ignore her, she kicked them.

"Bitch!" they both screamed as they separated and stood up, glaring at her. She motioned quickly towards the glimmer of purple she had seen earlier. They both looked, shocked to see Team Asuma walking towards them. They quickly straightened themselves up, but without the distraction, Misaki quickly fell back into her love-struck state.

Reiko laughed nervously as they approached. "Hello…." she said when they came to a halt outside of the door.

All of Team Asuma just stared.

"Awkwaaaaard…." Miyu mumbled.

Shikamaru shook his head and wasted no time muttering a "Troublesome…." Asuma glanced around at each of the girls.

"Do you… need help with anything?" he asked, probably worried for their sanities.

"Oh, no, we're fine," Reiko said, laughing nervously again.

"Yeah, we're okay… just standing here," Miyu added.

"And… just why _are_ you standing here?" Ino asked.

"We're waiting for Naruto and Sakura," Miyu said. "They're in there visiting Kakashi,"

At the mention of Kakashi's name, Misaki sighed. Everyone's attention turned to her. "Um, is she okay?" Ino asked, looking as if Misaki was covered with a horrible disease.

"Her?" Reiko pointed to Misaki. "She's fine. Just fine. It's just that she… suffers from chronic sighing disorder."

"It's been picking up though," Miyu continued their story for her. "We should probably get her checked out since we're here….."

An awkward silence fell again. Until something occurred to Reiko. "Are we in your way?" she asked. Without waiting for an answer, she hurriedly pushed the other two girls from in front of the door. Asuma nodded to her politely, and lead his team through the door. Time passed and Misaki fell into another state.

"There is… a group of girls standing outside of your room," Asuma told Kakashi as he entered.

"Really now?" Kakashi asked. "I wonder why that would be."

"Oh, well uh," Naruto began. Everyone looked at him. "Yesterday," he continued, "we were assigned this mission where we had to 'escort' them. They're advisors to the Hokage or something."

"Oh," Kakashi said. "How nice."

Miyu sighed.

"I'm bored again," she murmured.

"I'd rather be bored than stuck in a situation like _that_ again…." Reiko said, referring to the discomfort that had occurred between them and Team Asuma.

"That's what we'll do!" Misaki suddenly exclaimed.

Both of the younger girls stare at her. "What?" they asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah…. Let's spy on them!"

"No," they both said.

"What?" Misaki whined. "Why not?"

"We already know what's happening in there," Miyu told her sister.

"Yeah," Reiko agreed. "There's no point in it. We just know."

"But _I_ don't know!" Miyu and Reiko showed her no sympathy.

"Suck it up," Reiko said. "Be a man."

"But I'm a girl!" Misaki cried. She received no response. Misaki had no choices left. She was forced to use her ultimate weapon.

"Dammit," Miyu said as she caught a look of her sister. "The puppy-dog pout…."

"It's not fair," Misaki fake sobbed—even though the sobs sounded ridiculously real. "You guys know _everything_ there is to know about all of this, but I don't know _anything_. I just wanna be smart like you guys. Please, I just want to know!"

"Fine," the other girls sighed. Then the three of them quickly turned to the door. They quietly slid it open just a crack and peered in.

At the moment, Sai was introducing himself and Ino was whispering about how cute he was to Sakura. Miyu snickered to herself, _If only she knew how he_ really _is…._ It was not long before Asuma mentioned the restaurant "Barbe-Q" and Choji went nuts. The girls quickly closed the door and got into their most "we-weren't-just-spying-on-you-guys" stances. The younger members of both Teams Kakashi and Asuma exited the room. Sakura glanced briefly at the girls.

"We're going out for a late lunch now; you guys are coming with us." She continued on walking with the others. The girls began to follow after them, but before long they were directed off to the sidelines by none other than Shikamaru.

"I know that you were spying on us."

"Can't get anything past you," Reiko murmured. Even she was not sure if she was being sarcastic or not.

"What did you hear?" Shikamaru asked, although he knew nothing of life-threatening importance had been mentioned.

"Oh, just something about the birds and the bees," Miyu mused.

Shikamaru stared at her.

"It's nothing," she laughed. Shikamaru chose that moment to leave them be. _What a drag…._

* * *

Ino was doing her best to get really chummy with Sai. "Hey Choji!" she shouted, even though he was sitting right across from her. "We have to introduce ourselves to Sai before we eat."

 _Glad to know we don't matter to you Ino_ , Reiko thought sarcastically when she noticed they would not be part of the introductions.

Choji, mouth watering and all, began to speak. "I'm Akimichi Choji, uh, from the Akimichi Clan." He wiped his overflowing mouth. "Nice to meet you. You're Sai, right?"

"Nice to meet you…uh…." Sai's voice trailed off.

Immediately, Miyu and Reiko tensed. They knew what was coming. But with the seating arrangement changed around to accommodate them, would Naruto be able to get to Sai in time? Reiko, who was sitting on Sai's left side, decided to herself that if it seemed like Naruto would be too late, she would intervene.

Sakura and Naruto became tense as well.

"Fa…."

Reiko quickly turned to Sai, arms poised to strangle him if need be. She _HAD_ to keep him from saying that word. But she need not have bothered. Naruto nearly lunged across the table to clamp his hand over Sai's mouth. "Sai!" he hissed to him. "'Fatty' is absolutely a taboo word in front of Choji! Got it?!"

"Did he," Choji looked up. "Start to say something just now?" Miyu tried to scoot a bit further away from him, in case he did explode.

"No," Sakura insisted. "It's nothing."

"Oh," Choji murmured. "I see."

Everyone began to relax and Naruto sat back down in his seat.

Ino spoke up. "My name's Yamanaka Ino." She smiled at Sai. "My family owns the Yamanaka Flower Shop. Nice to meet you."

Miyu and Reiko sighed, knowing what Sai was working out in his head.

"Nice to meet you… uh… pretty lady."

Ino blushed. Reiko peeked at Sakura, who was absolutely livid. _I wanted him to say 'Ugly' too…._

For once, Reiko did not feel all that bad when Sakura went on her rampage and pounded Sai into a pulp.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Thanks for reading! We post regularly so be sure to follow! :)**_


	6. Chapter 6

"I'm boooooooored," Reiko groaned. Even the feeling of the blood rushing to her head was not entertaining enough. As she sat upside down, head hanging off of the couch, Misaki sat next to her and flipped through the channels on the television, ignoring her. Miyu was sitting at their small dining room table, doodling something on whatever paper she had found.

After lunch the day before, Naruto, Sakura, and Sai had dropped the girls off at the apartment. Since then, the girls had been stuck inside with nothing to do.

Reiko sighed as she stared up at the ceiling, counting the dots of light that drifted across her eyeball. "You know, we haven't seen Nej—I mean, Team Gai since we got here."

Miyu and Misaki somehow managed to pull a simultaneous shrug—all without looking at each other or Reiko.

"Maybe we should go see him—er, them."

They shrugged at the same time again. "Whatever," Miyu said.

Now that she had the group's consent, Reiko rolled backwards off the couch and bolted to the door. The other two followed after her less enthusiastically—much less. Reiko threw open the door and practically skipped out onto the landing.

 _Neji, Neji, I get to see Ne—_ "Aaaah!" Reiko almost went flying into the ground before a strong hand caught her wrist in time. At this point, Miyu and Misaki were outside as well, staring in disbelief at the newcomer.

"Really, Yamato-taicho? Really?" Miyu said when she caught sight of him.

Reiko steadied herself and glared at him. "You should _really_ stop doing that."

Yamato gave her a sort of questioning look, but he chose to not respond to her comment. Instead, he relinquished the grip he had on her and asked the three of them, "Were you going somewhere?"

 _I_ so _did not want you to come, you weirdo_ , Misaki thought as she said, "We were hoping to give Team Gai a visit."

Yamato nodded, and instead of asking them how they knew Team Gai, he simply said, "Naruto will be here soon. We'll leave when he gets here."

* * *

Yamato, Naruto, and the girls were strolling quite peacefully along one of the many busy streets of Konoha, on their way to check out various training grounds in hopes of finding Team Gai, when a frustrated Kiba happened across them. "Hey, Naruto!" he cried when he caught sight of said blond. The group stopped and turned to face the Inuzuka jogging over to them. "Have you seen Akamaru?" he asked when he had reached him.

Naruto thought about it for a second. "Nope, I haven't seen him. Is he missing?"

Kiba rubbed the back of his neck, clearly exasperated. "Sort of," he answered. "Today I'm supposed to give him a bath, but you know how he gets when that happens…."

"So he ran away?" Naruto asked.

Kiba nodded. Then, as if noticing the other four for the first time, he looked around at the group. "Who're they?" he asked, motioning to the girls.

Naruto looked behind him. "Oh them? They're a few of the Hokage's advisors. They're going to be in town for a while, and we're their escorts."

"They look a bit young to be the Hokage's advisors…."

Naruto shrugged. "But they are." He vaguely motioned to each of them as he introduced them. "She's Misaki, she's Reiko, and she's…." he floundered.

"Miy—!" the blonde girl began before she was cut off.

"Doesn't matter," Kiba said as he moved himself closer to Reiko. "Inuzuka Kiba," he said.

Reiko glanced out of the corner of her eye at her friend. Miyu's mouth hung open as she stared in shock at the rapidly getting friendlier—to Reiko anyway—Kiba. Reiko's eyes flitted back to Kiba.

"So, how old are you anyway?" he asked.

"I'm sixteen," Reiko managed to say without squeaking.

"Really? Me too!" Reiko could only giggle at his cheesy enthusiasm. "When's your birthday?"

"The third of November."

Kiba was silent for a few moments, thinking. "A Scorpio, eh?" he said at last. He looked Reiko up and down. "Makes perfect sense." Reiko immediately became fascinated with the ground, knowing that she could no longer bear looking directly into Kiba's eyes. "But you know," he continued, "I'm a Cancer. My birthday's the seventh of July."

Reiko could only manage a "Really?"

"Yeah," he said. "And you know, Scorpios and Cancers are supposed to be _really_ compatible with each other."

Reiko dared herself to look up at him. "No kidding!" she said, being all too convincing with her fake surprise.

"It's true!" He grinned at her. "I guess that means that you and I should _really_ get together sometime…."

"Actually, I'd lik—"

Not being able to take it any longer, Miyu intervened. "She can't. She's very busy—advisor duties and whatnot."

Kiba did not even bother turning away from Reiko. "Aw, c'mon…. I'm sure she'll have some time off sooner or later."

"I'm free right now—" Reiko offered, trying to be all too helpful, but a glare from Miyu kept her from saying anything else.

Kiba opened his mouth to say something else, but at that moment, the other members of Team Kurenai appeared behind them. Kiba turned to his teammates, suddenly remembering the dilemma he was in. "Any luck?"

Both responses were not very consoling. Kiba sighed.

"Maybe we can help?" Reiko asked. Everyone looked at her. "Well, you know, the more people you have looking for him, the better, right?"

"I am afraid that I am not so sure you would be of much help" Shino said, "Why? Because you are obviously new here. How is this relevant? You will not know what Akamaru looks like and therefore could not find him even if he were right in front of you. And also, we cannot be sure what you would do if you did find him. What if you were sent to kidnap him? We could n—"

"Whoa, wait Shino," Kiba said. "They're cool. They're advisors to the Hokage. They wouldn't kidnap Akamaru."

Shino raised an eyebrow—not that anyone could see it, since he had his hood covering most of his face. "Do you know them?"

"We just met," Kiba responded. "She's Reiko, and those two are… her friends."

The other two girls introduced themselves, but not without glaring at Kiba as they did so. Hinata introduced herself without stuttering too much, and Shino also murmured his name.

"Well," Yamato began. "If we're going to help you look for him, we better get started."

"Right," Kiba said. "Akamaru has white fur and brown patches on his ears. He's not like any of the other dogs around here…."

"We'll split up into groups of two. Misaki, Miyu, and Reiko aren't allowed to be off alone. Besides, it would help if they were with someone who had seen Akamaru before. They could confirm that it's him should they spot him."

"Not like he's hard to miss…." Naruto muttered as he scratched his head.

"We'll all meet up back here before the sun goes down," Yamato ordered.

"Groups of two?" Kiba asked as he peered at Reiko.

Miyu noticed this and—simply because she was still überly angry with Kiba for being a jerk and cutting her off when she was going to introduce herself—quickly pushed her friend into the arms of Yamato. "Reiko would like to go with Yamato-taicho." She stared at her friend. "Right?"

"Well…." Reiko began, but after feeling the waves of killer intent rolling off of Miyu, she quickly agreed. "Yup, I wanna go with Yamato-taicho."

Miyu nodded happily as Kiba frowned.

Misaki looked at the sullen boy and began to offer herself. "I'll go wit—"

"Let's go, Shino." The two boys turned and left.

"I wanna go with Hinata!" Miyu shouted as she grabbed the shy girl's arm and bolted off in some random direction. Reiko shook her head as Yamato lead her some other way.

"I guess that leaves me and you," Misaki grumbled.

Naruto stared at her, wide-eyed. He stared and stared and stared…. "You won't hurt me, right?"

Misaki shook her head, grabbed his arm, and marched off.

* * *

"Okay, so let's find this dog— _OHMIGAWSH_ that kid had ice cream! Did you see that? He had ice cream~! You want some? Let's get some! I bet it'll be awesome~~" Miyu ran to the cart that had the ice cream. "How much?" She gasped. "Money!" Immediately her hands flew into her pockets, searching for a spare coin or something. "Money, money, money, please let there be money…." She did not find any.

Now sulking, Miyu turned and walked slowly back to Hinata.

Not knowing what to do, Hinata settled with giving Miyu a reassuring look and a pat on the back, "That's okay. I'll buy you some if you really want some."

"R-really?" Miyu asked hopefully. Hinata, not one to disappoint any one, offered a shy smile and a small nod. Miyu quickly changed her expression from that of a kicked puppy to one of a kid celebrating Christmas for the first time. "Hell yeah! Thanks Hinata! Just for that, you're definitely coming over to sleep at my place tonight."

Hinata sweat dropped; she did not see offering to buy her ice cream really that big of a deal. A simple thank you would have been enough, "That's alright. I'm happy that you're happy."

Miyu was having none of this.

"Bullshit! You're coming over, even if I have to drag you in your underwear." Miyu scoffed.

Hinata would have protested more if she did not see the glint in Miyu's eyes telling her she would really be stupid—er _bold_ **—** to actually do it. Satisfied, Miyu skipped to the ice cream vendor to receive her gift. The two girls began their search again but Miyu, having the attention span of a goldfish—which is only three seconds long—zoomed in to the next thing that caught her eye, "OMIGAWSH! Those swords are shiny! MUST... TOUCH!"

As fast as you can say wait, the young girl was off and leaving the pale eyed girl in her dust. Hinata could not believe a once calm girl was actually this hard to keep up with. The blonde was all over the place. Not to mention, spouting absolutely nonsense.

"OMIGAWSH! Look! Look! It's... It's... a tree!" or "That bush looks really suspicious…."

Hinata could only stare in disbelief. Maybe giving the young advisor ice cream was a bad idea. The villagers seemed to agree with her. Once she caught up to Miyu, she saw her talking to a stump asking if it has seen a white and brown dog. As was said before, she could only stare in disbelief.

* * *

"I'm surprised to find out that you are as young as you are," Yamato said, glancing briefly at Reiko.

Reiko was not sure what he was trying to say. "Um, is there something wrong with that?"

"No, not really," he said. "It explains some things, but it also gives rise to more questions."

"Like what?"

"Like how someone with a limited amount of years having been lived in this life could know enough to become an advisor to the Hokage."

Rather offended—because she felt as if he were insinuating that someone her age should be a complete idiot, Reiko glared angrily at the ground. "The Kazekage is my age," she huffed.

"Ah, yes, he is. I guess the younger generations just keep getting wiser as time progresses."

"Something like that," Reiko grumbled.

"Do you know the Kazekage?" Yamato asked.

"I don't _know_ him, but I know _of_ him. I mean, who _hasn't_ heard of him?"

"Ah," Yamato said. "I suppose he is rather well-known."

There was silence. Yamato could feel the thick tension rolling off of the teenage girl in waves. What was she so angry about?

Reiko struggled to hold back the outburst that was waiting to happen. Usually, when she was around people she was not particularly close with, she was able to do it rather easily. She was one of those stranger-shy people. But with Yamato—and not just him, but _every_ "character" of the Naruto-verse—it was more difficult to do so. She knew so much about each of them that she felt as if she actually _knew_ them. Like they were all close friends. And she was sure that Miyu—and maybe even Misaki too—felt the same way. It was just how things were. And since it felt like they were such close friends, she felt obligated to express her feelings to them—even if it meant yelling. _Damn it…._

She managed to content herself with growling. Yamato stared at her warily, worried that she was going to turn into a bear or something….

* * *

Just as the sun was beginning to set, the group gathered at the designated meeting spot. "No one saw him?" Kiba asked.

The group chorused with a bunch of head shakes and nos. Kiba started deflate but then he noticed something that the rest did not. "Hey, where's Naruto and that girl... ummm."

Reiko and Miyu simultaneously said, "Misaki."

"Right, her." Kiba simply waved them off. He was not interested in the girl enough to remember her name. This prompted the duo to glare at him.

Not a second too late, Naruto came running and panting towards the group. Yamato, not one to miss anything, noticed a particular bossy girl missing in action.

"Naruto, where is Misaki?"

Immediately, Naruto began to pale and sweat bullets before answering Yamato's question, "Uh... about that... I umm... lost her..."

Hearing this, Miyu's "sister switch" activated and she came charging towards him. Reiko, being the ever-so-loving best friend, simply sighed and yanked Miyu back by the back of her neck. Miyu turned raging eyes towards Reiko as if asking her why. The reply she only got was, "Down girl."

If the young girl could, she would be spouting fire from her mouth and steam from her ears. "LET ME AT HIM! I SWEAR I'LL ONLY TAKE A CHUNK FROM HIM!"

Naruto shrunk away from the enraged teenager and Yamato took this chance to let out a sigh, almost as if asking Kami why he left him with idiots, and then turned to give Naruto a stern look. Naruto opened his mouth to tell them the story of how he lost Misaki when a familiar voice was heard, speeding towards the group.

"AHHHHHH! CLIFFORD'S ON THE LOOSE! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!"

They all looked in time as the "missing" girl crashed into Kiba, making him meet the ground face first. Reiko and Miyu leaned over Misaki to hear what the older girl kept mumbling under her breath.

"Big… dog… on steroids..."

The two teens shared a look before falling to the ground, laughing their hearts out. A moment or so passed before they were able to compose themselves. After they had done so, Miyu pulled her delirious sister to her feet, and Reiko peeled a squished Kiba off of the ground. The disgruntled boy had opened his mouth to mutter a few words of gratitude when a soft rumbling could be felt beneath his feet. Everyone looked around, and before a few seconds had passed, a flash of white had pinned Kiba onto the ground again—along with Reiko.

"Akamaru!" Kiba exclaimed. The ninken licked his best friend ferociously. "Where have you been? I was worried about you! And don't think this means you're not getting a bath. There's always tomorrow."

"Heavy…." Reiko gasped.

Kiba peeked over at her. "Oh." Akamaru barked shortly before he backtracked enough to give the two enough room to get up. Kiba scrambled up quickly so that he was able to help Reiko to her feet.

"Well," Reiko began as she petted Akamaru, since his fur was so irresistibly soft, "at least we found him." Kiba nodded.

 _Gluuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrgggglllllle._

Everyone turned to the source of the noise—Misaki.

"Don't look at me like that! I'm hungry, dammit!"

At that exact moment Reiko's and Miyu's stomach seem to agree with the pushy girl. The two girls reluctantly agreed with their companion and not to mention their rumbling stomachs. Knowing that all three of them were broke, they looked at their escorts as if saying they were the ones to feed them.

Yamato smiled slightly at the girls. "Sorry girls. I don't have enough money to pay for the four of us and keep me on my feet for the rest of the week." Seeing the girls' dejected faces prompted his next sentence—an attempt to cheer them up. "But I'm pretty sure Naruto would help us out, right?"

The girls all ran to Naruto and gave him their best puppy dog face. Naruto bowed his head in defeat and the three girls cheered, knowing that they won. Naruto dug in his pocket and pulled out his froggy wallet. Being the immature children they were, Misaki and Miyu could help but tease and jeer at Naruto.

"I thought you were a man," Misaki sneered

"I am!"

"What kind of man carries a frog purse?" Misaki asked.

"Hey! It's not a purse!"

"Purses can get heavy, want me to carry it?" Miyu sniggered.

"For the last time, it's not a purse!"

Reiko could only shake her head at the two sisters. Growing tired of the bantering, she decided to break it up. Reiko marched up to the sisters and smacked both girls behind the head. She then began to scold the duo. "Are you kidding me? Leave him alone!"

"I only said that I wanted to hold his purse," Miyu whined. The comment earned her another whack to the head.

"You two should be grateful that he's offering to pay for your meal! He could've easily come up with an irrelevant excuse," here she shot a glare at Yamato, "and refused to buy you anything—leaving you to _starve_."

" _I_ wouldn't let you starve," Kiba said to Reiko, raising an eyebrow suggestively.

Reiko put a hand to her mouth, hiding her smirk. "I'm not sure if you'd have enough to satisfy me."

"I think I have plenty."

"How would you know?"

"There's only one way to find out…."

Misaki—absolutely disgusted with all of the shameless flirting that had been going on between the two lately—came to the conclusion that she needed to separate them, so she rolled her eyes and said to Reiko, "Alright, we're sorry okay? Can we go now?"

"Ah, yes," Yamato said, staring in disbelief at the teens. "We can."

The girls said their goodbyes to Team Kurenai, but not without Miyu pausing to whisper to Hinata, "Make sure you remember to come over tonight," here she slipped Hinata a piece of paper with her address written on it, "or I'll come over to _your_ house and eat all your ice cream!" And then they were gone.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed, feel free to leave a review! Now that we're about halfway through the "pre-written" chapters, my co-author and I would like to know more about what the readers think about the story, so we know what direction to move in going forward. If you have time, consider taking our Reader Feedback survey! It'd be like leaving a targeted review, and the link to it can be found on my profile! And don't forget to subscribe to story alerts; we upload regularly!**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: Just a heads up that my co-author and I have decided to move to a bi-monthly update schedule in hopes to have more time for feedback before we continue further with the story (than what we already have written). So please, don't hesitate to review if you have anything at all to say; you can also head to my profile to find the direct link for our Reader Feedback Survey!**_

* * *

"Itadakimasu!" everyone cried as their ramen was served to them.

The five of them, who took up all but one of the stools at Ichiraku Ramen, did not hesitate to dig in. They ate happily in silence for a while.

Misaki, upset with the anime whore Reiko who had been flirting with Kiba all day, suddenly felt really crush-deprived. Watching Reiko seemingly say all the right things to Kiba and really click with him had somehow Misaki made remember just how little she knew about _her_ crush-character—Kakashi. So she had made it her job to find out as much about him as she could. "Soooooooo," she began, turning towards Naruto. "Kakashi… san. He's your sensei, right?"

"Mmm," he agreed as he slurped down the noodles.

"So, would you say that you know him really well?" she asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah…. Why do you ask?"

"Weeeeeeeell," Misaki looked upwards. "I just wanted to know some stuff about him…."

Naruto stared at her, wary. "What did you want to know?"

Misaki grinned while Miyu and Reiko just exchanged a knowing look. "What type of women is he into?"

Naruto almost spit his ramen all over her—almost. "What?" he cried.

"Like, what type of woman interests him?"

"I'm not sure…. He doesn't really talk about that kind of… stuff."

"Hmm…. Then, where does he like to eat?"

Naruto scratched his head. "I'm not sure…."

"Do you know his favorite food?"

Reiko opened her mouth to answer her friend's question—as it was pretty much instinct for her to be a _Naruto_ know-it-all—but quickly realized that she was not supposed to know what Kakashi's favorite foods were since she _supposedly_ had not even laid eyes on him yet. She quickly shut her trap—but not before Yamato had noticed.

Naruto shook his head. Misaki growled to herself. "Okaaaaaay, then do you know if he likes to dance?"

Naruto tried to imagine his sensei dancing. Needless to say, he was almost laughing too hard to gasp out, "No, I don't think he does."

Misaki grunted with frustration. "Okay, fine. What about… ugghhhh…. What about books? What kind of books does he like to read?"

 _Pffffffffffft!_ Everyone turned to see Miyu spitting her water all over the place. And if that random outburst was not weird enough, Reiko had suddenly started choking on her ramen. The brown-eyed girl coughed and sputtered and before long, she was damn near asphyxiated. She would have died if Miyu had not composed herself enough to pat her on the back hard enough to make everything go back down the right tubes.

Yamato raised an eyebrow at the two.

"I'm not really hungry anymore…." Reiko murmured as she pushed the bowl away.

"What'd I say?" Misaki asked.

 _It wasn't what you said, it was the horrible mental image of Kakashi "reading" that made me lose my appetite,_ Reiko thought. But instead of saying that, she mumbled, "It wasn't you. The evil ramen just tried to kill me…."

In order to turn the attention away from her best friend, Miyu turned to Naruto. "So, uh, Naruto… san. Instead of telling us about Kakashi-san, why don't you tell us about yourself?"

Naruto beamed at her. Reiko and Misaki inwardly groaned. _If he smiles any harder, he might grind his molars to dust,_ Reiko thought. Misaki was too busy moping.

 _NOOOOOOO! Now I'll never get to know the love of my life!_ Misaki wailed in her mind. Unbeknownst to their suffering, Naruto began to tell story after story of his adventures to Miyu. She sat eagerly hearing the stories. She was fascinated albeit she heard all of them before and he was over-exaggerating the suspense, the drama, and even his own awesomeness. Sooner or later, Naruto started to trail off and fell deep in thought. That was okay since Miyu was too busy wrapped up in her own daydreams to notice. She only interrupted him when he started mumbling to himself and cursed someone by the name of "Gaara."

"Gaara?" Miyu piped up. This was her chance to see if her all time crush, Gaara, was ever visiting anytime soon. Reiko and Misaki wanted to slap the simple-minded girl.

"Huh?" Naruto questioned as he snapped out of his thoughts.

"You mentioned a guy named Gaara," Miyu told him simply. "So, who is he?" Miyu could hardly control her inner fangirl. She had to literally restrain her inner self with chains.

"Oh, that's just my friend Gaara," Naruto explained to her.

"Is that so? Where does he live?" Miyu asked nonchalantly. At least, she tried to be. Reiko and Misaki felt like smacking their foreheads at their companion's stupidity.

"He lives in Sunagakure. Actually, he's the Kazekage…." Naruto said thoughtfully. After a moment, Naruto scowled and mumbled something that sounded like "That bastard became a Kage before me."

Miyu did not hear him. "Really? That's so cool!" she gushed, but something in her tone hinted that she was not really finding it out for the first time.

And Yamato picked up on that. He scrutinized the girls carefully. _Maybe I should ask Tsunade-sama about them,_ he thought.

* * *

After all the ramen had been eaten and the girls were full, Naruto and Yamato took them home. Everyone exchanged their goodnights and the girls were left alone. It was not long before they were bored and complaining again.

"Today was an… eventful day," Miyu murmured.

"Like hell it was!" The other two turned to look at a frustrated Reiko. "I didn't get to see Neji! That was the _only_ reason I left the apartment today."

"Well, it sure seemed like you had fun," Misaki practically spat.

Reiko stared at her icily. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Just what it sounded like," Misaki huffed at her. "It _sure_ seemed like you had fun." Reiko narrowed her eyes at the older girl as she continued. "You and Kiba were having a ball!"

Reiko grunted in frustration. "Why are you so offended by that?"

"Because, you shouldn't be flirting when the rest of us can't!"

"No one is stopping you from flirting!"

"Uh, yeah, _you_ are! If you weren't flirting with _everyone_ maybe there would be someone left over, you _slut_."

Reiko gasped.

"Guys!" The arguing girls looked at Miyu. "Calm down, okay? We still need to get ready for the sleepover tonight."

Reiko and Misaki muttered some inaudible things, but they agreed to help clean up.

The girls did not have much junk to throw around, but they straightened things up and cleaned anyway. Miyu wanted things _perfect_ for Hinata.

When they were done, they all sat on the couch and awaited Hinata's arrival. "You never straightened up for _me_ when we had sleepovers back at home," Reiko stated.

"Did too," Miyu claimed. "Ariel just came in and messed it up all over again with his spazz attacks."

"At least he can't have one of his spazz attacks here…." Misaki murmured. There was a moment of silence.

"I kind of miss his spazz attacks," Reiko said.

The others nodded. "How do you think he was able to cover for us?" Miyu asked.

Reiko shrugged. "But I know he must've had one hell of a time convincing my parents that they didn't need to look for me. They usually won't let me out of their sight for more than eight hours."

"But you love them," Miyu reminded her.

"Yeah, I know."

Misaki spoke up. "Do you guys… think we'll ever see our parents again? I mean, do you think we'll be able to get home?" There was another moment of silence.

"I don't know," Miyu said honestly.

"What'll we do if we can't go back?" Misaki asked.

Reiko shook her head. "I don't want to think about it."

And then someone knocked on the door.

"It's Hinata!" Miyu squealed as she ran to the door. Quickly putting on her happy face, she flung the barrier open, and immediately glomped the person who was standing on the other side… who was _not_ Hinata.

"Umm," Sakura mumbled.

When Miyu finally caught sight of the pink hair, she jumped up. "You!" she screamed. "You're not Hinata!"

Sakura got up off of the ground. "Yeah, I noticed that," she muttered.

"What are you doing here?" Miyu asked.

"Misaki invited me."

"What?! When!?"

"Um, yesterday. After we left Barbe-Q…."

Misaki's head suddenly popped into the doorway. "Sakura-chan! You made it! Come on in!" She ushered the pinkette inside.

" _Chan_?" Miyu asked the night air in disbelief. She closed the door behind her as she sulked back inside.

All four of them sat on the couch, immersed in an awkward silence. Sakura sat on the end with Misaki next to her, and Reiko and Miyu scooted as far away as possible, glaring menacingly at Misaki.

"So…." Misaki said. Silence came once more.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. Miyu got up and stalked to the door. "What!?" she growled as she opened it.

"Well, um, uh…. I-I—y-you asked m-me t-too—" Hinata stuttered.

"Hinata!" Miyu cried as she glomped the poor girl. The two stayed as they were for a number of moments, Hinata stuttering all the while.

"I um, well, um, c-could y-you—"

Reiko's head suddenly poked itself outside the door frame. "Are you done raping Hinata yet?"

Miyu stuck her tongue out at her friend. "It's not rape if both parties consent," she defended.

Reiko rolled her eyes, and turned to the shy girl. "Hinata, do you consent?"

"W-well, I-I-I-I um, n-not e-exact—"

Reiko turned back to Miyu. "She doesn't consent. It's rape."

"Go back inside," the blonde growled. Reiko unwillingly did as she was told.

Miyu instantly went back into hyper-host mode.

"I'm so glad you came!" Miyu exclaimed as she pulled away from Hinata to beam at her. The pale eyed girl blushed at the blonde-haired girl's enthusiasm. Miyu dragged Hinata inside and closed the door behind her. "Make yourself at home!" As the slightly larger group of girls got comfortable, silence joined the room once again.

Misaki, getting impatient with all the deafening silence, leaned closer to Sakura and began to devise a plan. "So," she said with as much faked indifference she could muster. "What's your sensei like?"

Sakura leaned back to create some space. _This girl doesn't seem to know what personal space means._ "Well, um, where do I start? He's lazy, never on time, and a complete pervert, not to mention—" This continued for about five minutes before Miyu exploded.

"Okay!" Miyu shouted clearly annoyed, "We get it, can we please change the subject to something more interesting."

Reiko snorted. _The only thing she'll find more interesting is anything that has to deal with Gaara_ , she thought. Instantly, Reiko felt a pair of eyes on her. Miyu was glaring at Reiko as if she could hear her thoughts. Reiko scooted away from the glaring girl with only one thought in mind. _Okay you weirdo, stop reading my mind._ Miyu would have stared longer if Hinata did not start to fidget out of nervousness.

Misaki shook her head and thought, _I'm surrounded by idiots._ She got up and stalked to the middle of the room to stand in front of the younger teens. "Have any of you been to a sleepover?" The only answers she received were head shakes from the two ninja. Miyu opened her mouth but Misaki was quick to squash anything her baby sister had to say. "And no, the countless times Reiko came over to spend the night because she was too lazy to go home do not count." Miyu, now thoroughly put out, slumped back in her seat, grumbling softly to herself. Satisfied, Misaki addressed the group. "Well... I have, so the first thing on our agenda is…." The girls almost fell off the couch from leaning forward to hear the older girl's next words. "Truth or Dare!"

* * *

 ** _A/N: Thanks for reading! Be sure to leave a review, let us know what you think!_**


	8. Chapter 8

"Uh, what's Truth or Dare?" Sakura asked.

Misaki stared at her in shock. "You've _never_ played Truth or Dare before?"

Both ninja shook their heads.

"That is ridiculous." She shook her head. "Okay, example time!" She pulled Reiko and Miyu from the couch and sat with them on the ground in a sort of circle—Miyu on her right and Reiko on her left. "Okay," she began. "It goes like this—well, everyone has their own individual rules, but this is how we're going to play it. We sit in a circle like so." She gestured to their circle. "Okay, so let's say I just went. I pick the next person that goes—which will be Reiko, 'cause she's the one I picked—and I ask her, 'Truth, or Dare?' Then she says…." Misaki looked at Reiko.

"Truth," Reiko said. And after receiving a rather vicious glare from Misaki, "I mean, Dare…."

"Then I dare her to do something. It could be anything. If she picked 'Truth,' then I would ask her a personal question and she has to answer it. But she picked dare, so I get to humiliate her. This time, I'll say, "I dare you to stuff you mouth full of crackers and try to whistle.'"

"I can't whistle in the first place!"

"Do it."

Reiko got up and dragged herself into the kitchen, grumbling all the way. She looked through the sparse cabinets until she found a box of crackers. She grabbed them and shuffled back into the living room. Sitting back down in her spot, she opened the box and began shoving crackers into her mouth. No sooner than Reiko pursed her lips to whistle, everyone burst into laughter.

"You look like a chipmunk-monkey hybrid!" Miyu sniggered.

"Shut up!" Reiko said—or she tried to say. It came out as a muffled gurgle and she quickly began choking on the crackers. Everyone burst into laughter again. Reiko struggled valiantly and eventually she managed to swallow the snack food that had tried to kill her. She flopped onto her back, breathing heavily from the effort. "I hate you," she rasped.

Misaki ignored her and continued her explanation of the game. "Now Reiko would choose who would go next. The only person she can't choose is the person who just chose her. So, let's begin!" The two ninja nodded and squished themselves into a circle with the other three. "Alright Reiko, you pick who goes next."

Reiko immediately shot up, a slightly maniac grin splitting across her face. She looked at Sakura with a gleam in her eyes. "Truth or Dare, Sakura?"

Sakura flinched. "Truth," she said, not liking the look Reiko was giving her at all.

Reiko instantly deflated. Telling the truth could not be nearly as embarrassing as doing a dare. "Okay," Reiko looked up at the ceiling, thinking of a question. She decided to go with a standard question. "Have you ever stuffed your bra?"

Sakura immediately blushed, as if it were the worst thing anyone could ask her. "N-no!" she stammered.

Reiko looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure!"

Reiko shrugged. "Well, you seem really angry about it—"

"I'm sure!"

"Okay, calm down." Reiko scooted away from her slightly. "No one is accusing you of anything."

It took a few moments for Sakura to calm down. "So, um, do I just pick whoever I want next?" she asked when she was ready.

Misaki nodded. "Anyone except for Reiko, because she went just before you did."

Sakura looked around the circle. "So, Miyu. Truth or Dare?"

"Dare me, Baby!" was the reply.

Sakura thought for a moment. "I dare you to, um, lick the floor?"

Miyu snorted. "Lame. That's not even funny." She licked the floor in no time flat. "Okay, Misaki." She looked at her sister, itching to get payback on the girl for inviting Sakura over. "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," Misaki replied.

"Boring!" Reiko coughed oh-so discreetly into her fist.

Miyu thought for a moment. "If you were a boy for a day, what would you look like and what would you do?"

"Well," Misaki began. "I'd be incredibly sexy, and I'd do stuff that sexy guys do. Flirt with me!"

Reiko gave her a look. "Seriously?"

Misaki nodded enthusiastically. "That was a good one. Okay, Sakura! Truth or Dare!"

"Again?" Sakura asked. "But Hinata didn't go yet."

"Doesn't matter! I can only not pick the person who just picked me," Misaki explained again.

Sakura frowned. "Dare, I guess."

Misaki's eyes flashed evilly. "I dare you to… go out onto the balcony and scream 'I love you!' to anyone that walks by."

Sakura just stared at her. "Really?"

"Yup."

"For how long?"

"Uh… I'll call you back in when I think you're done."

Sakura continued to stare. "Do I _have_ to?"

"If you don't, everyone here will hate you forever, and we'll kill you." It was Reiko who answered.

Not liking the seriousness of the black-haired girl's tone, Sakura stood up and slowly made her way out onto the balcony. They crowded at the door, watching her.

A few minutes passed. A figure started to head towards them.

"Say it like you mean it," Miyu urged. The figure came closer and closer.

"Are you ready?" Misaki taunted.

Closer and closer and closer….

Sakura closed her eyes and decided to just do it. "I love you!" she shouted. Whoever the person was, they just looked and kept on going.

"You're not good at this," Reiko muttered. "That had no feeling to it at all. No one will react if you don't sound like you mean it. Here, I'll do it with you." Reiko nudged her way onto the balcony with Sakura. A few more minutes passed before another pedestrian walked by. Reiko poked the pinkette next to her. "You ready?"

Sakura nodded.

"Hey!" Reiko shouted, doing her best impression of a cool guy from any of the many romance movies she had watched before. The man below them stopped walking briefly to look up at them.

"I love you!" the two cried simultaneously.

"Uh, okay," he said. And he quickly walked away.

The group of girls looked at each other as the man moved away from the teenagers and they burst into fits of giggles. Even the shy Hinata could not hide her laughter. Reiko shushed the girls when she saw an approaching figure coming their way. Sakura and Reiko readied themselves. "I love you!" they shouted. The figure looked up only to be—

"No!" Sakura wailed. "Why him of all people?"

" _Omigawsh!_ I really do love you!" Reiko gasped excitedly.

The two ninja gave Reiko a strange yet confused look while Misaki and Miyu smacked their foreheads. They had only one thought in mind. _She's going to be the death of us._

Sai analyzed the group before pulling on a fake smile. "Why, thank you, Ugly and Weirdo." He paused for a second."I' m sorry I can't say the same for you." And with that, he simply walked away.

"Wow, what a coincidence," Reiko murmured. There was a brief silence and then she shook her head. "Okay, where's our next victim?"

The entire group stared at her for a few moments. "Um, are you okay?" Sakura asked, eyeing the raven-haired girl warily.

Reiko nodded. "Yep, I'm fine!" Another figure appeared off in the distance. "Here comes another one," she squeaked as she nudged Sakura gently.

Sakura managed to shake off the weird feeling she was getting and turned back to the street down below. "Okay, are you ready?"

Reiko nodded again. "This is too much fun!" she squealed.

The figure kept approaching—closer, closer, closer, until—

"I love you!" the pair shouted.

"What?" a voice—female—called up to them. _Hey, that voice sounds familiar_ , Reiko thought, just before Sakura screamed out, awfully close to her ear.

"Ino!?"

"What in the world are you doing, Billboard Brow?" Ino shouted to the pinkette.

"Playing Truth or Dare!" It was Misaki who answered.

Ino gasped. " _Really?_ I want to play!" She looked at the balcony that was already too full with too many people. "Hmmm. Open the front door, I'm coming up!"

Misaki giggled, "Another vict—I mean, player! Yay! Sakura, your dare is done now." She rushed inside to go let Ino in.

Sakura slumped a bit. "I was actually having some fun," she mumbled.

"I know, right?" Reiko said. "But it's okay, there's still more to do." And with that she ushered everyone inside. When Reiko turned around from closing the balcony door, everyone—including the newcomer, Ino—was already sitting in the circle again. Reiko hurriedly took her seat.

"Alright, Sakura," Misaki was saying. "Pick someone."

Sakura nodded and looked around the circle. And an evil grin slowly crept onto her face.

The girls were all good sports, and as they went around the circle a few times, they all picked "Dare." Some of them were tame, but a lot of them were just plain… nuts. Towards the end, things started to settle a bit, so after Ino pushed a penny around the toilet seat using only her tongue, and Misaki drank an entire cup of hot sauce, it was Miyu's turn to pick after she came inside from skipping down the street and singing 'The Bad Touch' by Bloodhound Gang at the top of her lungs—a dare courtesy of Reiko.

"I hate you," Miyu muttered as she returned to her seat in the circle. Reiko just smiled. Miyu was glancing around the circle, wondering who to prey on, when an idea sprang into her mind. "Hinata," she said as she turned to look at the shy girl.

"Yes?" Hinata almost squeaked at the rather devious expression on Miyu's face.

"Truth or Dare?"

Hinata, thinking that Miyu had a horrible dare in store for her picked the only logical choice, "T-truth."

A grin slashed itself onto Miyu's face quicker then lightning. It was then that Hinata realized she had made the wrong choice. "So," Miyu began. "Tell everyone who you like."

Hinata's eyes widened in shock, but Reiko was confused. She leaned over to Miyu and whispered to her, "But everyone knows that Hinata likes Naru—"

"I want to hear her say it out loud," Miyu whispered back. Reiko went back to her spot.

"W-well, I-I-I…. I, um, I l-like…. I like…." Hinata was redder than a fire truck. "I like…." She took a deep breath. "I like Naruto-kun!" And she fainted.

"Nice going, Miyu," Reiko muttered. And then the girls flitted about, getting water and fans and smelling salts and anything else they could think of that would wake Hinata up.

Eventually, the poor girl regained consciousness. As soon as she did so, Miyu pounced on her. "Hinata-chan, you like Naruto-kun?" The girl could only manage to nod. "That's great! I could totally help you out—I could set you guys up together!"

Hinata fainted again.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Feel free to let me know what you think of the story thus far in a review, or stop by my profile to take our Reader Feedback Survey!**_


	9. Chapter 9

After much persuading and fainting on Hinata's part, the shy girl finally agreed, albeit reluctantly, to Miyu helping her catch Konoha's number one knucklehead ninja. Miyu, bursting with giddiness, glomped the poor girl for the millionth time. Misaki, impatient as ever, decided to break up this joyful moment. "Okay, okay, we get it. We're helping Hinata catch her eye candy." Hinata blushed at her choice of words. "Now then, can we get back to the slumber party?"

Miyu huffed and got off of Hinata and the girls resumed the sleepover. The girls gossiped and played games until late at night.

The next morning had a bit of a late start, but before long, all of the girls were up, and the ninja were packing up to leave. Miyu squealed as she helped her roommates straighten up the mess that had left in the living room. "Hinata, I'm going to try my best to get you and Naruto together!"

Hinata just blushed and nodded as she gathered her belongings.

Reiko frowned. "That's not what we're going to do today, is it?"

Miyu shot her a look. "And why not?"

"Becaaaaaause," she whined as she stomped her feet on the ground. "I _so_ wanted to see Neji today. We didn't even get anywhere near him yesterday!"

Miyu's look turned into a glare. "And just _whose_ fault is that? _You_ were the one too busy getting friendly with Kiba!"

Reiko rolled her eyes. " _That_ is beside the point! The point _is_ I want to see Neji today!"

Hinata looked at the slightly angered fangirl. "You know Neji-nii-san?" she asked quietly.

Reiko turned to her. "Yeah…." she said slowly. "We know him." A few seconds passed, and a thought hit her. "And you know him too!" she gushed. Reiko rushed over to Hinata and quickly grabbed hold of her hands. "Do you know where we could find him? Like, right now?"

Hinata squeaked a bit, and blinked. "Well, uh, I um, I s-suppose that he would be at his team's training grounds right about now…."

Reiko grinned. "Could you take us there? Please? Pretty please?"

Hinata just looked at her for a moment. "I-I guess I could…. If you really know Neji-nii-san, he wouldn't mind…."

Reiko was literally shaking with excitement. "Yes! Yes, we know him! You could even test me if you want! I'll prove it to you!"

Hinata smiled meekly at the seemingly rabid Reiko. "I'll take your word for it. I trust you."

"Yaaaaaaaaay!" Reiko squished Hinata with a hug, squealing all the while. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Y-you're welcome," Hinata somehow managed to gasp out.

* * *

Sakura, Ino, and Hinata were effective chaperones as they led the girls to Team Gai's training grounds—and to Neji. Reiko thanked them over and over and over again as they left them to their own devices with the younger members of Team Gai. Just as Reiko was ready to run straight into Neji's totally-not-open-and-waiting arms, Miyu held out an arm of her own, stopping the nearly-rabid fangirl in her tracks. Miyu looked carefully around the training grounds before she opened up her mouth to ask a question, "Where's your sensei?"

Tenten gave her a quizzical look before she began to answer the question—but Lee beat her to the punch.

"Alas! Our wonderful Gai-sensei is not with us today! He has a number of meetings he must attend, so we must train on without him! But we will each do an extra five hundred push-ups to make up for his absence! Right guys?" Lee turned to his teammates, only to see Tenten pretending she could not hear him, and Neji blatantly ignoring him.

"Well," Miyu began before Lee said something to either of them. "That's good! He said he would make me go for a _real_ run the next time he saw me, and I'm not, uh, in the mood for that."

"You're not in _shape_ for that," Reiko muttered. Miyu just sent her an evil glare as she was not in the mood to punch her friend in the arm.

"Is there any particular reason why the three of you chose to come here?" Neji asked, already starting to become annoyed.

Reiko shook her head. "Nope! No reason in particular," she chirped, just a bit too cheerfully. _Except for you_ , she added silently to herself.

"Since you guys _are_ here," Tenten interjected. "Why don't we talk? It's about time we took a break anyway…."

Misaki—absolutely delighted now that there was a chance gossip would become involved—quickly grabbed every girl present and sat each of them down in a circle. "So," she looked around at the other girls. "What are we going to talk about?"

"Hmmm…." Tenten's eyes looked upwards as she thought for a moment. "Well, you guys know what'll happen in the future, right?"

"Pretty much," Reiko said.

But right before Tenten could say what she had on her mind, Lee sped to the middle of the circle.

"That is right! The three of you are like Oracles of Youth! You know where the efforts of our hard work will take us! Please, tell me! What will all of my vigorous training get me? Will I finally reach Gai-sensei's level?" He briefly glanced around before he dropped his voice to what only _he_ would consider a whisper. "Will I finally beat Neji?"

Miyu decided to answer since she figured Misaki would make up something random and illogical and Reiko would just tell him everything he wanted to hear. She looked Lee directly into his eyes, and she spoke with her most serious voice. "You die," she deadpanned.

A second or two passed by and then Lee went pale. "Die? B-b-b-b-but, I-I have s-s-s-so much y-youth!"

Miyu shrugged. "Well, I guess having youth doesn't cut it."

Lee's jaw dropped as if Miyu has spouted the most heinous blasphemy anyone could have ever heard.

Reiko got up and hugged Lee, who looked like he was ready to cry. "Don't listen to her," she cooed as she stroked his bowl-cut hair. "She's lying. It's just her sick and twisted idea of a joke!" Reiko shot her friend a fierce glare.

"But-but-but… But it wasn't even funny!" Lee sobbed, really crying now.

A sigh of long-suffering could be heard, and everyone turned to look at Neji. "You shouldn't have even asked, Lee."

Lee pulled himself away from Reiko's comforting hold on him and asked, "What makes you say that, Neji?"

Neji looked down at the five of them as he replied, "Because we shouldn't mess with the way things are now by looking into the future. Things have changed enough just by their being here—by asking for details long before they are needed we could end up changing what happens enough that whatever information they hold becomes irrelevant."

"And we wouldn't be able to help you. We'd be useless," Reiko finished for him. Neji nodded.

One, two, three seconds passed before Reiko realized that she just had some sort of moment with Neji. It took all of her strength to not run up to him and hug him as hard as she could. She was still struggling when she heard Miyu mumble, "You're such a prick…."

Tenten gave Miyu the most venomous glare she could manage while Reiko—her mini-moment with Neji completely forgotten—punched Miyu on the arm as hard as possible. Miyu looked up at her friend, shocked. "Owww!"

Reiko gave her a look that said clearly, "That's what you get. I dare you to say something like that again."

Miyu scowled, "Bitch, you didn't have to hit me!"

"Yes, I did. You deserved it," Reiko responded.

Miyu still scowled, "Whatever, you're still a bitch."

" _Anyway_ ," Misaki intervened. "So are we going to gossip or what?"

Tenten cocked her head to the side. "Well, I did hear that…."

The girls then proceeded to gossip about the trivial goings on of the Hidden Leaf Village for a while. Although Misaki was the only one _really_ excited to be learning the low-down about everyone, all of the girls seemed to get really into it. They talked on for what seemed like eons and eons to the boys that could do nothing more than stand around awkwardly and wait until Tenten was ready to train again.

Eventually, Tenten did return to her teammates, and together the three of them returned to their training session—this time a bit mindful of the three girls sitting at the edge of the training grounds. Misaki, Miyu, and Reiko had decided to wait patiently until Team Gai had finished sparring with each other so that they could hang out with Tenten, or even all of Team Gai—or just so that Reiko could stalk Neji some more. Either way, the girls were waiting, and as they were doing so, a loud beep could be heard.

Reiko raised a questioning eyebrow as Miyu reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. "I got a text message…."

"From?"Misaki asked.

Miyu pressed a couple of buttons. "It's from Ariel!"

"What's it say?" Reiko asked.

Miyu's eyes flicked across the screen a few times. "It says, 'Don't worry, I have it ALL under control.'" She emphasized the 'all' when she spoke, clueing the other girls in that it was typed in all caps.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Misaki murmured, more to herself than to the others.

Miyu shrugged and just stared at the text message that glowed faintly on her cell phone's screen. "I think he means that he found a way to get our parents to stop looking for us. So we can pretty much take our time looking for a way to go back home."

Misaki turned and gazed out into the faraway distance. "I guess that's good. We don't even have any idea how we got here in the first place. It'll probably take forever trying to find a way back."

Miyu looked at her two companions, a frown on her face. "Should we start looking now? I mean, when we came up with our cover story with Tsunade, we agreed that we would help her out by providing any information she could use against the Akatsuki—or Orochimaru, for that matter. But what if we find a way to get home before she needs our help?"

Misaki looked at her sister. "What part of, 'It'll probably take forever trying to find a way back,' didn't you get? We probably _should_ start looking now."

Miyu rolled her eyes. "But what if it doesn't?" she asked. "What if it doesn't take forever?"

Misaki sighed, "I don't know…. What do you think, Reiko?" The sisters quickly looked at their oddly silent friend.

Reiko sat at the base of a tree, her knees drawn up to her chest and her eyes glued to Miyu's cell phone. "Um, Reiko?"Miyu called out to her, a look of concern on her face.

Reiko slowly shifted her eyes upward, bringing them to rest on Miyu's face. "Am I the only one worried about what it is that Ariel told our parents?" They both gave her quizzical looks. "Seriously? Come on guys! He could have told them that we're dead! Or that I got pregnant so we all ran off to care for the baby ourselves! Or he might've told them we were all secretly transsexuals, so we decided to—for whatever God forsaken reason—hitchhike to California and become drug-dealing prostitutes in order to raise money for our gender-change surgeries! H-He could've told them _anything_! He's _Ariel_ for crying out loud!"

A few seconds passed. And then the looks of horror began to make their way onto the sisters' faces. "Oh my GOD, why didn't we think of that!?" Misaki cried.

Miyu began to sob hysterically. "Now m-m-my p-parents w-w-will think I-I'm a f-f-f-f-f-freak!" The three girls continued to cry, moan, and come up with ridiculous scenarios for the next few minutes. When they had all calmed down, Reiko was the first to speak.

"So, maybe we should wait a bit before we start looking for a way home."

Miyu nodded and Misaki said, "Yeah. It would give our parents a chance to get over whatever Ariel told them, and when we get home, they'll just be glad to see us."

"Good," Miyu murmured. "So it's all decided."

The man in the shadows could not help giggling to himself. " _They're so oblivious. How could they not have noticed that we've been here the whole time?_ "

" **This isn't the time to be laughing. We've been here for hours, and we still haven't completed our mission. We haven't learned anything about the Nine-Tails's jinchuriki because you insisted on watching these** _ **girls**_ **instead….** "

" _But you have to admit, the things they're saying are rather… interesting._ "

" **True…. They speak as if they know the Hokage personally. They may also know certain things about any of the Konoha shinobi. Information like that would certainly prove useful to Leader-sama.** "

" _And even if they don't know anything about the Konoha shinobi, they do know something about Orochimaru. And Leader-sama would really appreciate that._ "

The man nodded to himself. " **We should report our findings to Leader-sama**." And with that trite comment made to himself, the man was off.

* * *

"That certainly is interesting," Pein murmured to the spy before him. When his leader made no attempt to say nothing more, Zetsu slowly exited the room. "Three girls…." Pein said. "According to Zetsu, they talked as if they were from some faraway land." He was silent for a moment as he gathered his thoughts. "The main point is that they hold some information about our organization that they plan to share with the Hokage of the Leaf Village…. That would be problematic. Therefore, they are dangerous and must be eliminated." He went silent once more as he continued to think. "On the other hand, they may hold information about our enemies that we could retrieve…. So at the very least, they should be captured and interrogated before they are killed."

Slowly, a man stepped out of the shadows, coming to a stop not too far behind Pein. He said nothing as Pein began to speak again, "What do you think we should do with the three of them?"

The swirl-pattern mask on the man's face hid his smirk. "We don't have to put up with all three; we only _need_ one."

* * *

 _ **A/N: Thanks for reading! Please, if you have the time, review! Any and all feedback helps us keep the story going down a favorable path. Without it, we kill characters for fun!**_

 _ **If you don't know what to write in a review, check my profile for the link to our Reader Feedback Survey! It asks specific questions for you to answer, so you don't have to agonize over the keyboard for hours on your own!**_


	10. Chapter 10

**_A/N: Be sure to check out our Reader Feedback Survey, which can be found on my profile!_**

* * *

 _Knock! Knock! Knock!_

Misaki rolled over in her sleep, not sure if the noise she had just heard was part of her dream or not. Not like it mattered much anyway, because her dream suddenly changed and she was not sure what was happening any more.

 _Knock! Knock! Knock!_

There was that noise again…. Misaki felt like she should investigate, but the sleepy part of her told her to stay put in her bed.

 _ **Knock! Knock! Knock!**_

Was it getting louder? It had to be. Misaki groaned as she rolled herself out of bed. "Stupid noise bothering me—and at this hour of the night!—making me get up from my comfy bed," she grumbled to herself as she trudged toward the front door. "And messing up my dream—people sleep at night you know!—it was a pretty good dream too except now I can't remember it 'cause I woke up in the middle—What?!" She screamed the last part as she opened the door. She glared ferociously at the person standing on the other side.

And Yamato stared right back at her. "Tsunade-sama would like to see you and your companions now."

"At _this_ hour?" Misaki asked, incredulous.

"It's eight o' clock…."

"Oh." A few seconds of awkward silence passed by. And then Misaki slammed the door. She turned around slowly and went back to the bedroom.

Misaki barely had the time to notice that Reiko was sitting straight up in her bed before she plopped back down into her own.

"What the fuck was that?" Reiko asked.

Misaki mumbled into her pillow, "What?"

"That noise."

"Oh…. I slammed the door."

Reiko stared at the older girl with the most confused expression on her face. "Why'd you do that? It scared the shit out of me! Look, I'm still shaking." She held up a shaky hand to demonstrate.

Misaki snuggled her head deeper into her pillow. "'Cause Yamato was bugging me about some stupid meeting with the Hokage."

"So you slammed the door?!"

"Yeah. Got a problem with that?"

"Actually, I do. I can't go back to sleep now, because of you!"

"It wasn't my fault! Yamato was the one who wanted to bother us about seeing the stupid Hokage!"

"No, it's your fault! No one told you to slam the damn door!"

"Bitch, please! He was begging to have the door slammed on him."

"It doesn't mean anything. You knew there were other people in here sleeping!"

"Are you seriously still trying to pin this on me? How dar—"

"Um, excuse me ladies," a voice called from the bedroom door. Both of the girls quickly turned, only to find Yamato standing there with an exasperated look on his face. "I don't mean to interrupt, but we should really get going now."

There were a few moments of silence.

"How did you get in here?!" the two girls shouted simultaneously.

He blinked. "The door was unlocked."

"Oh."

After a lot of whining and complaining, Yamato finally managed to get the girls out of their apartment and over to the Hokage's mansion. The walk to the Hokage's was eventful to say the least. Even being half-awake, Miyu and Misaki still found a way to be annoying.

"So... Are we there yet?"

Yamato sighed for what seemed like the millionth time. Miyu and Misaki have been pestering him non-stop. They had been asking the same question since they had walked out of their front door. "No, Miyu, for the last time we're not."

"But—"

A glare from Yamato stopped Miyu's protest before it was even formed, leaving the small group in silence. It soon became too much for Misaki, so she decided to speak up.

"Yamato, are you sure we didn't pass the mansion? Because I swore we passed something that looked like—"

"Misaki-san, I'm sure we didn't," Yamato said as calmly as he could. "I should know where the Hokage's mansion is," he told the older sister. The longer he stayed with the girls, the more he felt a headache coming on. Great.

Misaki huffed and opened her mouth to say something else but was stopped by Reiko, who had elbowed the girl as if to tell her to shut up. Thankfully, she did, and Yamato was grateful for it.

* * *

The group finally made it to the mansion and Yamato inwardly sighed in relief. He quickly went inside with the girls following close behind. He made it to the door and knocked twice. He waited until he heard a "come in" and proceeded to do so with the girls following his lead. Looking at the group, Tsunade glared at them in annoyance.  
"Well, what is it?

"You wanted to see us, Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade sighed. "Ah. Yes. Recently Yamato has approached me with... concerns... about the behavior of you three."

The three girls immediately turned their heads to face Yamato, who was standing silently off to the side, waiting until he was instructed to speak. "What kind of concerns, Tsunade-sama?" Reiko asked, not even bothering to turn back to face the Hokage.

Yamato knew that Reiko was only pretending to ask Tsunade, that the question was really aimed _directly_ at him. Still, he looked to Tsunade and waited for her nod before he began.

"Go ahead, Yamato," the Hokage murmured.

Yamato cleared his throat. "There are a number of different things. The first instance to raise my suspicion included a particular device that Miyu-san had in her possession. It seemed to be a miniature television of sorts, but she refused to let anyone see it. The second instance occurred two days ago, when I found out that your… ' _advisors_ ,'" he put so much emphasis on the word that the girls could practically feel his distaste, "are actually quite young. Only sixteen."

Misaki raised her hand. "Actually, I'm nineteen."

Yamato ignored her and continued on. "And the third instance was later that day, when I noticed that Miyu-san seemed to know more about the Fifth Kazekage than she let on."

The older girls spun on Miyu. "Seriously?" Reiko asked flatly.

"You couldn't keep your obsession in check for ten, lousy minutes!?" Misaki yelled.

Miyu glared at the other two. "What the hell? I don't want to hear that from the girl who was practically drooling just standing outside of Kakashi's hospital door!"

Misaki gasped. "Well, Reiko is the one who has a crush on _everyone_ and flirts with _anything that breathes_."

"What!" Reiko stormed over to their makeshift ringleader. "What does _that_ have to do with anything? _She's_ the one that's in trouble here!" She pointed at Miyu.

Miyu snapped her fingers as if she just had a moment of genius, completely ignoring her friend. "Yeah! Like she's in heat or something. In fact, she probably wants to make out with Yamato right now!"

Reiko felt her face heat up. "Don't say that! He's right there!" She tried to push the other girl into silence, but Miyu suddenly bolted across the large room. Reiko's natural, predatory instincts kicked in. _When the prey runs, you chase._ She followed after the girl as quickly as possible, but when Miyu saw that Reiko was coming after her, she kept on running.

Before long, the two were running, one after the other, in a large circle around the Hokage's office. They were approximately equal in speed, so the distance between them never lessened. When Reiko realized this….

 _Smack!_

Miyu gasped. She watched in horror as Reiko's nearly-brand-new-very-Naruto-world-esque sandal fell to the floor after it collided with the wall. She spun to face her friend, her mouth open wide in shock. "You threw your shoe at me!"

Reiko hopped over to her sandal. "It's a very effective method to help catch someone that's too far ahead," she sniffed as she pulled the shoe onto her foot.

"You could've killed me!" Reiko didn't care for what the girl had to say. She pounced.

"AAAAAHHHH!" Miyu squealed. The two girls were struggling to restrain one another when Tsunade intervened.

"Girls!" the Hokage shouted Miyu and Reiko immediately scrambled to their feet and turned their heads to look at her. The Fifth sighed and continued, "How about instead of fighting each _other_ about what the other did wrongly, it might be a good idea to work _together_ and explain to Yamato the reasons behind your actions."

"Well, um..." Misaki murmured. "We..."

Tsunade shook her head. "Okay, Yamato," she sighed. "Since these three are apparently completely incapable of keeping their cover on their own, I'm going to need you to assist them."

Misaki, the leader, was the first to take offense. "Hey, we totally know how to stay undercover!"

"Yeah," Miyu chimed in. "We're practically spies since we're so good."

"Experts," Reiko added. Tsunade leveled them a look.

"Need I remind you why you're here in the first place?"

All three of the girls looked at the floor.

"Okay, maybe we do need a little help," Misaki murmured.

"Just a little training," her sister mumbled.

Reiko sighed. "We suck."

Tsunade cleared her throat. "So, the truth is..."

Tsunade explained the whole story to the wood-style user. He listened intently, never questioning, only absorbing all of the information.

"It was my intention to have only those initially involved know the truth. However, since you were easily able to see through them, it only makes sense to have you fully informed as well. This way, they will be able to have a constant accomplice that will help them to stay true to their story."

Yamato nodded once. "I understand, Hokage-sama."

"You three," the girls perked up as Tsunade addressed them. "This better be the last time I have to call you in here because someone is suspicious of you."

"Yes, Hokage-sama..." they murmured.

"Good. You're dismissed."

As Yamato was escorting the girls back to their apartment, the group happened across the Hyuga heiress they had had over only a couple of days ago.

"Hinata!" Miyu called out, heading over to the shy girl. "What are you up to today?"

"Oh, well, nothing really," Hinata murmured.

"Great! Let's hang out at your place then."

"Um, wh-what...?"

"You can't just invite yourself over to someone else's house, Miyu," Reiko chided as she and the others arrived on the scene.

"Yeah huh, Hinata's cool with it, right Hinata?"

"Um, well, I-it's a bit sudden—"

"See? It's all good."

Reiko gave her a look.

"Look, I promised her I'd help her with the ramen-head problem, and what better time than the present to make good on it?"

Eyes slowly came to rest on Hinata. "O-oh! If it's for that then, I guess it'll be alright," the girl practically whispered as a pink hue made its way across her face.

Miyu grinned. "See? I told you guys." She turned to the only male present. "So we'll see you around, Yamato-taicho. Hinata's got it from here."

Yamato just shook his head. "I think you're forgetting that you girls are supposed to have a full team of shinobi with you at all times. After poking in as many loopholes into that rule as we have thus far, the least I can do is adhere to it as best as I can when the situation allows."

Miyu's face was blank. "What?"

Yamato closed his eyes for a second, inhaling deeply. "I'll walk with you to the Hyuga compound and take my leave from there."

"Oh. Damn! We gotta save the girl-talk for later, bitches." With that said, Miyu motioned for Hinata to lead the way.

* * *

The moment Yamato left the girls in the care of Hyuga clan, Miyu had Hinata coop everyone up in her room. The door had hardly clicked shut before she began to explain her plans for making Naruto fall in love with the shy kunoichi.

"Okay, Hinata, here's how it's going to work. You're going to invite Naruto over—"

"Wh-what?"

"And you'll have him alone in your room—"

"H-huh?"

"But we'll keep guard, so you don't have to worry about anyone interrupting you guys," Miyu finished, nodding her head sagely.

"B-but," Hinata stuttered, "What will I do with him in my room?"

Miyu flashed her a wide, sneaky grin. "Then you 'trip' over a chair, land on him, and then proceed to making out."

Hinata turned as red as a setting sun on a summer evening. Misaki nodded her head, as if she thought it was the only logical course of action, while Reiko openly gaped at Miyu. "Don't you think that's a bit drastic?"

Miyu shook her head. "Of course not! Naruto is too oblivious to even think of trying something else. It's the only way."

"It won't help any if Hinata dies of heart failure midway through! Besides, how the heck does she even invite him over? She's here with us."

"Shadow clone. Duh." It was Misaki who answered.

 _Since when do you even know what a Shadow Clone is, huh!?_ Reiko thought as the surprise left her expression.

"Yeah! Great idea, sis!" Miyu exclaimed. She then clapped Hinata on the shoulder. "Okay, go for it."

"N-now?" The girl looked paler than usual.

"Yes, now. We're burning daylight!"

"I don't think I'm r-ready for th-this."

"Well, get ready! You have until your clone brings Naruto back over here."

Hinata gulped loudly. Her lavender eyes flitted back and forth from the faces of the 'advisors' before her. The seconds stretched into minutes and...

"Okay," Hinata said as she made a hand signal and created a clone.

Reiko's jaw nearly hit the floor. "H-Hinata, you don't have to do it if you don't want to!" she barely managed to sputter out.

"No, Miyu-san is right. I have to do it this way if I ever want Naruto-kun to notice me." Her voice was quiet, but determined. She nodded once to her clone, who then sped off out the window.

"Yes! Now while we wait we just gotta—"

"Miyu, can I talk to you and Misaki for a second," Reiko shouted as she stood, interrupting her friend. Without waiting for an answer she grabbed each girl by the arm and dragged them out of Hinata's room. The door was closed behind them, leaving them alone in the hall.

Miyu rolled her eyes. "What are y—?"

"I don't think we should be doing this," Reiko blurted. Both sisters just gaped at her.

"Are you kidding?" Miyu pointed at Hinata's door. "I told that girl in there that I'm gonna help her get her man, so I'm gonna help her get her man."

"Yeah, but I've been thinking. This is way too straightforward—it might actually work. And this plan really _can't_ work."

Misaki scrunched up her face. "What's that supposed to mean. We want them together, right?"

"Yeah but." Reiko stopped, took a breath, and growled. "Look, we can't change the way things are supposed to go in this universe. It could screw everything up. Don't you remember what Neji said just _yesterday_?"

"Pfft. Who gives a fuck about what Neji sa—"

"What is it that you're saying about me?"

At that moment, everyone froze. Slowly, the girls all turned to face the newly arrived Hyuga.

The expectant look on Neji's face practically asked "Well?" for him.

"Um, nothing," Miyu said as quickly as she could.

"Really." It was not even a question.

"Yes, really," the girl insisted.

Just at that moment, Misaki elbowed Reiko and leaned over to whisper, " _Distract him!_ "

An eyebrow arched itself up on Neji's forehead, but the sisters refused to believe that they were busted already.

"What's that Hinata?" Miyu began out of nowhere, turning towards the closed door behind her. "Oh yeah, sure, I'm coming." She turned back to the others. "Hinata's calling me, so I gotta go now." With that, she slipped back into the room, glaring at Reiko as she did so.

Not even a second after the door closed, Misaki did the exact same thing. "What's that Miyu? Oh yeah, sure, I'm coming." Neji shook his head slightly as the older girl turned back towards him. "Miyu's calling me, so I gotta go now." Before she disappeared behind the door, she shoved Reiko forward into Neji.

Reiko fell into his chest screaming, "What the fu—" The last bit of her exclamation was muffled by the fabric of Neji's shirt. The girl could feel her ears burning as Neji gripped her arms, pushing her away and setting her back upright. "So, um..."

Neji's voice cut her off. "So what exactly is going on here?"

"Well, yeah, about that..." Reiko considered her options quickly. After having run through all of the scenarios her mind could conjure up, she simultaneously heaved a sigh and rolled her eyes, and then silently cursed herself for feeling the need to remain loyal to her friends in this situation. "Actually! There's um, something I have to show you!"

Before Neji could even say "What?" Reiko had grabbed him by the wrist and began to drag him away down the hall. Rather than resisting and still having to interrogate answers from her afterwards, Neji allowed her to pull him around a corner and come to a stop on her own. And then went on to activate his Byakugan.

"Wait. Shit. Ughhh." Reiko stared up at the ceiling, took a deep breath, and shrugged her shoulders. "I tried," she grumbled, her gaze slowly shifting downwards to rest again on Neji.

It was only a few seconds until her inner creeper switch flipped.

Neji, studying Hinata's room, was trying to make sense of the situation. "That chakra..." He frowned. "Is that Narut—"He was interrupted when Reiko suddenly reached up to touch his face. "What in the world are you doing?"

Reiko froze when she heard the harsh tone of his voice, her fingers hovering just above the protruding veins that lead to his eyes. "Oh, well um, I uh..." She looked up towards the ceiling again as her voice trailed, as if trying to figure what it was exactly that she had been trying to accomplish. Neji seized the opportunity to push her lingering arm away, and took two steps back from her. There was a brief period of unsettling silence. "You know, I'm going to be completely honest here. I have absolutely _no_ idea of what came over me just then."

"I see..." the ninja replied. He did not actually _see_ , but he thought it best to close the matter immediately and to move on from it with incredible speed. He then focused his attention back on Hinata's room, where there seemed to be four shinobi engaging in some form of shenanigans. "So what are your friends actually up to?" he asked the girl in front of him as he let his Byakugan slip back into a dormant state.

Reiko exhaled heavily. "They're trying to hook Hinata up with Naruto. I tried talking them out of it but the—hey! Neji, wait!" Reiko hurried to follow the man striding over to his cousin's room. Not even pausing to knock, Neji pushed open the door to find—

Misaki holding Naruto in a headlock. Hinata on the other side of the room. Miyu whispering fiercely to the Hyuga heiress. And Naruto pleading with his captor to be released.

"Hinata, I'm serious! This is your only chance, just kiss him!" Miyu gave up on whispering, and instead shouted as she tried to push Hinata forward.

"I-I can't!" Hinata insisted.

"C'mon, Misaki! You gotta let me go! Why are you even doing this?!" Naruto groaned as he continued to struggle.

"Be still you idiot!" Misaki tightened her hold and Naruto began to gasp and sputter. "Miyu, hurry up!" she yelled to her sister.

The chaos stretched on for a minute or so before Reiko spoke up. "You know, I don't think this'll go anywhere."

"Nor do I," Neji agreed. Careful as to not disturb the antics of those in the room, he closed the door quietly. And then slowly, the pair walked away without looking back.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Please review! It tells us what you like and what you want to see so we can make the best story possible! :)**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**Some Weeks Later**_

"Aren't we like, not allowed to go anywhere with less than two escorts?"

"It's fine for right now," Yamato answered her. "We'll all eat lunch here. Naruto and the others will meet up with us by the time we're done ordering."

Miyu nodded, looking around at their surroundings. They were sitting inside of Makiyuu, a fairly new shabu shabu restaurant in Konoha's main shopping district. No one questioned why Yamato had decided to treat them to food, since they were all pretty hungry. They did, however, question why it was today in particular that he decided to display such generosity and bring everyone out for lunch.

"Well," Yamato crossed his arms as he started to answer the question posed to him. "I figured it be a good way to have what they call a... 'last hoorah' I believe is the term."

Misaki scrunched up her face. "Who the heck uses 'last hoorah' as a thing?"

"I thought only old people used it but..." Reiko's voice trailed.

"Yamato _is_ old though," Miyu tried to whisper discreetly to her companions.

Yamato frowned, not sure if her comment was even worth dignifying with a response. He soon learned that it wasn't, as Reiko almost immediately reached over to smack her friend's hand.

"So anyway," Reiko raised her voice in order to be heard over Miyu's 'OW!'

"Why exactly are we having a final get together?"

Yamato nodded once, acknowledging the only valid question that had been asked of him. "In recent times, the amount of shinobi without mission assignments has become scarce again. Naruto, Sakura, and Sai are in line for a mission outside of the village as there aren't enough ninja who fit the requisites currently available. As a result, their assignment escorting the three of you is being retracted, so they can be cleared to go."

"So then what about us?" Misaki asked.

"From my reports, Tsunade-sama has gathered that the three of you are well adapted enough to allow for more lax security—for the time being. So until there are enough shinobi available to form a full team, the only requirement is that you ensure that you are within the presence of at least one active duty ninja at all times. Periodically, I will check on you girls myself, and there is always a cycling Anbu watch somewhere."

"Wait, what the heck? I _just_ asked about the escort thing! I'm finally getting it down, and now it all changes?!" Miyu let her head drop to a table, holding a fistful of her own blonde hair in frustration.

Misaki reached over to pat her back gently. "There, there... Look at it this way. Now we don't have to bring a whole party when we drop you off at Hinata's!"

Miyu's head popped up. "Really?" Her sister nodded. "Alright! It gets embarrassing, y'know, showing up day after day with six people crowding behind you," she said, crossing her arms and nodding.

"We know," Reiko rolled her eyes. "You say that all the time."

Not long after, Sakura came to their table with Sai following close behind. Misaki hurriedly made room for her kunoichi BFF to sit down next to her. "Sakura-chan, it's been like, forever!" she squealed.

The pinkette made a noise somewhere in between a chuckle and a sigh. "You see me every day."

"I know. But still."

"Where's Naruto-kun?" Reiko asked Sai when Sakura and Misaki had begun to converse about things that did not interest her in the slightest.

"Training, I believe."

"Still?" Miyu asked, her facial expression one of genuine disbelief. Sai nodded as a response. Miyu huffed. "Ever since he found out about this wind chakra thing he's been really going at it."

A waiter brought himself over to them then and took the table's collective order. As soon as he stepped away, Naruto made his entrance and sat with the others.

"You couldn't treat us to Ichiraku's instead, Yamato-taichou?" he mumbled after the pot had been set on the burner and a tray of ingredients was set beside it.

"Not everyone wants ramen twenty-four seven, Naruto," Miyu play-scolded him.

It wasn't long before the pot in front of them was boiling, and Reiko was the one put in charge of picking and mixing the ingredients, since she had begged for nearly five minutes straight. Having the thought of 'goodbye' on their minds, the girls doubled down on their efforts to enjoy the time they had with the ninja they had grown oddly attached to over time.

All too soon, lunch was over, and the seven of them began to trek back to the girls' apartment. Naruto, Sakura, and Sai soon deviated from the others, each having other engagements that needed attending to. Once the group had reached the street that would lead them to their apartment complex, Reiko caught sight of her own kunoichi buddy. "Tenten-chan!" She called out as she practically skipped over to give the girl a hug.

Instead, Tenten clasped Reiko's hands, and beamed cheerfully, "Hey, I was just about to head over to your place! Want to hang out with the team for the afternoon?"

"Yeah, sure! I don't think we have anything planned." Reiko peeked over her shoulder at her companions. "Do we?"

It was Miyu who answered. "Nope, we have nothing."

"It's not an exclusive invite," Tenten added. "If you want, you guys can come too."

Misaki and Miyu exchanged looks, engaged in some sort of silent sister code, and neither spoke for a few minutes. Then, Misaki shrugged, and Miyu turned to Tenten, saying, "Yeah, let's do that."

"Cool, let's try to drag Lee and Neji from the training field for once."

"Woo, let's go!" Reiko cried, grabbing Miyu by the arm and latching onto Tenten, and urged the kunoichi to lead the way.

"Coming, Yamato-taicho?" Misaki asked as she began to follow after the other girls. In response, Yamato sighed, but he decided to at least accompany the advisors until they had met up with the rest of Team Gai.

* * *

"This Sensing Barrier is going to cause so many problems." The Akatsuki stood staring into the distance, arms crossed and brow furrowed. "Even with the delay between patrol units, the first responders will likely only take eight minutes to arrive on the scene." After spending a few moments deeply contemplating what was invisible to the naked eye, he heaved a sigh. "If the targets turn out to be on the complete opposite side, I'll turn Zetsu into art myself, un."

"Tobi estimates the Barrier is no more than three centimeters from your nose, Senpai!" A second man jumped down to perch on same tree branch as the first as he spoke.

"What—" Just at that moment, Tobi lost his balance on the tree branch, and he grabbed at Deidara in order to keep from plummeting downward. "Tobi, what are you even—" Deidara began to frantically swat at his partner, trying to keep Tobi from plunging them both forward and into the Barrier Seal. "You need to be more serious about this, Tobi!" Deidara shouted as he flung his partner from the tree. "I don't need you messing this up before we even start, un."

Within seconds, Deidara formed a hand seal and a clay bird grew a hundred times in size with a puff of smoke. The Akatsuki swiftly leapt onto his creation, and it began to maneuver skywards. Farther and farther up it went, clearing even the towering trees that were native to the forests surrounding Konohagakure. "Senpai! The Barrier goes all the way up there too!"

"I am aware of that, Tobi," the blond yelled down to his masked accomplice. "Unlike you, I'm not an idiot, un!" There was a moment of silence as the artist regained his composure. "We won't have long after we cross the barrier before the Anbu are on our tails. Entering at the right angle and covering the most distance possible in the first three minutes is crucial, un." Deidara punctuated his statement by rearing back with his sculpture-turned-vehicle and then catapulting through the barrier.

* * *

Explosions. Somewhere, barrages of explosions were going off. "Um, what…." Reiko gestured offhandedly to the growing clouds of dust, dirt, and debris in the distance. "Do you guys see this?"

"Don't really need to see it," Tenten said as she turned to face the direction her friend was motioning towards. "The ruckus is loud enough to be heard from here. But I have no clue what's going on." Her eyes searched through the remnants of the settling plumes. "Do you remember getting any memos about patrol drills, Neji?"

There was another round of explosions before he could answer. "No, I do not." Everyone stood silently as they observed the commotion from afar. Pillars of smoke had begun to waft above the trees when another shinobi suddenly appeared amongst the group.

Miyu was the first to offer some form of greeting. "Yamato-taicho, you're back—"

He cut her off smoothly, "We don't have any time to talk. The Barrier Seal has been breached. We have to get the girls to someplace secure." The ninja immediately began to collect their belongings, preparing to head out.

Misaki, however, frowned. "Wait, what? What does that mean? How do you know?"

"W-well, um," Reiko stuttered as she hurried to collect kunai that had been knocked astray for Tenten. "The village is surrounded by a barrier that can detect unauthorized entry. If it's been breached, then that must mean someone forced their way in."

The older girl looked to Yamato for confirmation. He nodded quickly and said, "I came across a patrol unit on my way back to report to the Hokage and they informed me of the situation." His eyes scanned the horizon. "We will have to carry the three of you, so—" the rest of his sentence was drowned out by the boom of a massive projectile crashing into the ground only a few meters from the group.

Dust spewed into the air, and rapidly flooded the surrounding area. Arms were thrown up to shield faces from the surging debris, and a squeal could be heard from each of the advisors. Immediately after the entire clearing had been smothered by billowing clouds, Neji hissed, "Byakugan," and activated his dojutsu. The air was heavy with chakra, as well as the dust. Meaning that this was no accident or merely happenstance—it was ninjutsu. Someone was deliberately obscuring their vision. Carefully, Neji took note of his surroundings, identifying each chakra signature he was familiar with and their locations in reference to himself. His eyes detected motion and Neji focused on the person moving towards one of the unarmed pseudo-advisors. "Reiko, down!" the Hyuga ordered.

"Wait, what," the girl cried out, falling over herself to duck down as low as she could. Just a breath later, a well-directed Air Palm soared through the space above her, making contact with the unseen enemy and knocking him back. It didn't do much real damage, Neji noted, moving forward and positioning himself in front of Reiko as he saw the assailant land upright and heard the sound of his feet skidding across the earth.

Reiko then stood slowly, not sure what to do with herself as she labored to breathe through the pollutants in the air. "N-Neji…." she creaked, reaching forward with one hand to determine if she was actually facing the direction of the Hyuga. A fingertip prodded the man on his back, and Reiko swiftly withdrew, even though somewhere inside she felt the urge to just latch on. "I-I… I just…." She failed to find the proper words with which to voice her thoughts. The vines of fear had wrapped themselves around her, squeezing her into a still silence.

"Just stay behind me," came his only reply. It was short, indifferent almost, but reassuring all the same.

Neji took only a second to reevaluate the situation he was in. With the fog still hanging in the air and hindering standard visibility; he was the only one present with any sort of advantage. However, there were three girls that needed protecting. His opponent was skilled and fairly smart; Neji knew he would not be able to handle everything on his own. He called out to his teammate, "Lee!"

"Right," was the only reply. Lee launched himself into the air, high above the lingering clouds of dirt, and after pausing for only a second once he reached the crest of his ascent, he came speeding downwards, shouting, "Severe Leaf Hurricane!" Just as he made contact with the ground, still spinning from his technique, a gush of wind spread outwards from him, carrying the cloudy particles away and pushing them from the clearing of the training grounds.

Neji quickly took advantage of the change in environment, rushing forward to engage the not yet visible opponent just as the gust of wind hit him. "Get Reiko and the others to someplace safe," he ordered as he began his assault, not even bothering to pause and look over his shoulder to confirm that everyone was preparing to act.

"Got it," Tenten said as she maneuvered herself to stand next to Miyu. "Okay," she began as she bent her knees. "Hop on."

Miyu nodded nervously. "R-right," she choked out, clambered onto Tenten's back.

"Wait, what, hold on," Misaki commanded when she saw Lee running towards Reiko and realized that left her with Yamato. "Get Neji over here or something, I don't want to ride him!" She pointed furiously at the man standing next to her.

"Now is not the time for this, Reyna!" her sister called, panicked enough to use the teen's birth name.

"That's easy for _you_ to say, when you get Tenten—" Deciding to not waste any more time, Yamato quickly clasped a hand over Misaki's mouth, and hoisted her over his shoulder. The sudden impact of his shoulder meeting her stomach knocked the breath out of her, silencing any further comments.

Simultaneously, Lee scooped up Reiko and began to make haste back towards the village. Neji, although he had managed to keep the intruder occupied for quite some time, was forced to fall back momentarily after a too-close encounter with an exploding bird that flew straight for his right eye. In those few seconds, the attacker re-fixated himself on his original target—Reiko. He started for the escaping Lee, flinging explosives in every direction to follow after them. The taijutsu specialist lost some of his momentum then, swerving and turning in order to dodge the bombs raining down on him.

Reiko was trying hard to keep from hyperventilating, but in the end, she just lost the ability to breathe completely. She saw an explosive heading towards the ground in front of them, and she knew that at the speed they were going, they would be directly underneath it just in time to make impact. Because she could see it, because it seemed to be moving so slowly, so deliberately, it was clear to Reiko that she would die. "Lee," she hardly managed to breathe out before the shinobi turned on his heel. He was only able to slow down marginally, and the bomb hit the ground only half a meter away from the pair, detonating instantaneously. Lee himself took the brunt of the explosion, but the force, heat, and light were not much less jarring to the girl he held in his arms. Given their proximity to the blast, there was no escaping the pressure that pulsed outwards and they were propelled through the air. When Lee finally met the ground again, he hit it hard, jolting his muscles into releasing Reiko. She drifted away from him momentarily—as the semi-conscious Lee rolled in the complete opposite direction—before she herself crashed into the earth, rolling and then skidding to a stop as she lost momentum.

Neji started for her, and Lee began to peel himself from the ground, but the infiltrator got to her first. Grabbing a fistful of hair, the man lifted her head from the dirt. "Are you still alive?" A weak, strangled cough was the reply. "Great, un." He pulled her up and hung her over his shoulder. Immediately, he made for the crashed bird he had abandoned once he had arrived.

Miyu caught sight of the girl dangling from him just after Tenten had begun to make for the village. "W-wait, he has—"

Tenten flicked her eyes over just in time to see the man drop Reiko unceremoniously onto the back of the clay animal. Realizing that he was already out of range for everyone but herself, the kunoichi decided to act. "Neji, come get Miyu," yelled, slipping the girl off of her back and pulling her scroll from where it rested near her hips. The barrage of weapons hit right as the Akatsuki had managed to take off. Some found themselves embedded in the side of the bird, and those that headed directly for Deidara seemed to be dodged or deflected with relative ease. Then, he departed, Tenten's weapons trailing after him. "I'll head the pursuit," the kunoichi claimed, already leaping into the trees to follow.

* * *

"I will also—" Lee began, looking as if he had gotten his wind back.

"No," Neji halted him. "You're fastest; go with Yamato-taicho and get these two to safety, then rendezvous with us. I'll assist Tenten with keeping him in sight." Not even a breath later, the Hyuga was chasing after his teammate.

Lee stooped so as to allow Miyu to climb onto his back. "Quickly, we must waste no more time."

"Wait," Miyu was shaking. "I-I don't want to be too far from her," she explained, talking as fast as she could. "Take us with you, please. There has to be something we can do. There _has_ to be."

Lee flicked his gaze over to Yamato. Frowning, the wood-style user sifted through all the possibilities in his mind. "Worst case scenario is that we lose Reiko either way, as long as the two of us make sure that keeping Misaki and Miyu safe is our top priority. Even two hindered additional shinobi are better than none."

Lee nodded once. "We must still hurry, Miyu-san." Miyu nodded and—shaking—positioned herself on Lee's back. Yamato finally allowed Misaki to do the same, and they hurried after the others.

* * *

Reiko felt her stomach jump into her throat, but that was her only clue that something was different. Her mind was groggy, and she drifted somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness. Many minutes passed by before she was able to at least regain a part of her senses. When at last her vision came back to her, Reiko was shocked to see the trees whizzing by her. Slowly, she pushed herself up to rest on her knees, and she cautiously peered over the edge of the surface she had been laying on.

It was so far down. It was so very, _very_ far down. Just how had she gotten up this high? What was she doing? What was happening? Looking around her, she saw the scenery continually rushing by and a man wearing a grimace on his face. _Deidara_. Holy shit, she was going to die. Why was she with him, flying on this damned bird thing? She peeked again over the edge of the clay animal. They were going too fast. They were too high up. She was going to fall. She had no idea how to hold on; she was going to slide right off and fall to her death. Reiko's throat began to seize up at the thought of it, and again she found herself unable to breathe. She wrapped her arms around herself as the heart palpitations set in and the shaking began, not sure how to fight off her building anxiety—or if, even, there was a point in fighting it off.

She had been trying for nearly a minute before she was able to force herself to take a painful, jerky breath. She kept her gaze fixated on a single spot on the span of smooth clay before her, and did not spare a part of her to notice when another man seemed to materialize next to her and Deidara.

"You're late, Senpai!"

"You think I don't know that, Tobi? And didn't I tell you to stay put, un?"

"But Tobi can help do it faster!"

"Look, I already explained to you—"

"Senpai, wait, you'll see."

Reiko felt a hand grip her shoulder, and then suddenly it felt as if her head was being stretched and pulled into two pieces, and her skin was being stripped away from her flesh. Excruciating pain seared through her body, and the entire universe began to spiral around her, towards her, _into_ her. She was consumed by an eternity of anguish in the span of half a second, and then it all stopped. Reiko was only vaguely aware of her own body collapsing onto the hard dirt.

The dizziness and nausea hit her then, and her disorientation was severe. "Never. Again. Tobi," she heard Deidara hiss from her right, left, behind her, and above her all at once.

Slowly, deliberately, Reiko pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, but that was as far as she got before the first heave of her stomach pushed the vomit through her and out from her mouth. Coughing and choking, she tried to resist continuing, but a second heave wrenched from her more vomit, and a mixture of bile, mucus, and sludge rose up into her nasal cavity and trickled from her nostrils. It was torture on its own, alternately retching, coughing, and gasping for air for the next minute.

"Oh, wow, Senpai! You were right!" Tobi studied the girl. "She doesn't look too good. Maybe she _would_ have died if I warped with her all the way back to Leader-sama!"

"Of course I'm right," Deidara boasted as he used the scope on his eye to locate his abandoned creation. "Unlike you, I actually use my brain, un." There was a moment of near silence as Tobi whined quietly to himself.

After her stomach was emptied of its contents and her body considered itself to be back at equilibrium, Reiko pulled her scarf from around her neck and used it to clean her nose and mouth. The bodily fluids defiled the once pure-white scarf, and she could only stare the the stains they made while she wondered what she could do about her situation.

"Eight hundred meters, huh…." Deidara murmured to himself, finding his target. "And it looks like those shinobi actually caught up."

"So Tobi did good!?"

Deidara ignored him. "Well, I can still detonate from here. And they'll be none the wiser…." Reiko's sight drifted over to Deidara in time to see a maniacal grin spread slowly across his face. He caught her gaze and said, "Say goodbye to your friends, un."

Reiko didn't have the time to fully comprehend before—"KATSU!"

Explosion. It was another explosion. Light flashed, the scenery shook, and the the deafening sound reach her ears seconds later. As the clouds of smoke rose up into the sky, the implications of what Deidara had said truly hit her. Already she could see flames licking at the tops of the trees, and she knew that even if they had miraculously survived the blast, it would only be seconds before her friends were completely consumed.

* * *

 _ **A/N: This may or may not be a late upload, but I told myself I would look over this chapter again before uploading and never did. And even when I gave myself extra time to do so, I still didn't so... I've essentially given up on it.**_

 _ **Anyhow, please leave a review if you have the time!**_


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